United Airlines

[trbarton]

FYI…United is starting to board passengers according to your seat location. Window will board first  followed by middle & isle. Sounds good to me.  What do other people think?

 

Tom😀

[Honolulu Blue]

5 minutes ago, trbarton said:

FYI…United is starting to board passengers according to your seat location. Window will board first  followed by middle & isle. Sounds good to me.  What do other people think?

 

Tom😀

As someone who prefers window seats, I approve of this. 👍

[Cruise Raider]

It’s a smart idea to speed thing up but will no doubt, but I’m sure it will be met with complaints when travel partners have to board separately.  BTW, I won’t be one that complains, not to mention, I rarely fly on United.  

[BridgeMates]

Seems like the overhead space will be difficult for the aisle seats .....

[Jadn13]

When overhead space is at a minimum and I only travel with a carry on, I guess I could only book a window seat on United. 
there will be a run on window seats due to luggage 

[Yehootu]

Good ole WILMA boarding scheme, shades of the old Shuttle days. Wasn't a big boost to on time then, most likely won't be now either. When UAL is charging extra for aisle seats, we'll see how long before they go back to zone boarding. Another reason to keep my United Infinity Club card as it gives you priority boarding.

[Steelers36]

Interesting news perhaps but what does this have to do with Princess Cruises?

[caribill]

This has been tried in the past and abandoned, (Do not remember which airlines have tried it).

 

I do not think it will last long.

[Princessfan20]

Here is United's new policy starting October 22, 2023.

 

Beginning with Group 4, passengers with window seats will board first, followed by those with middle seats and then aisle seats. People on the same reservation, such as families, can board together, United said. The new boarding process will be implemented on all domestic flights and some international flights.  All other groups and pre-boards will board as usual.  

 

That is usually when the aisles start to jam up during the boarding of the last two groups.  Expected to save 2 minutes per flight.

Edited October 19, 2023 by Princessfan20

[CruiserBruce]

2 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

It’s a smart idea to speed thing up but will no doubt, but I’m sure it will be met with complaints when travel partners have to board separately.  BTW, I won’t be one that complains, not to mention, I rarely fly on United.  

Travel partners on the same reservation will be able to board together.

[chrysalis]

Will this get you to a Princess ship any faster?

[Cruise Raider]

1 hour ago, chrysalis said:

Will this get you to a Princess ship any faster?

Maybe two minutes ,, lol

[mrell345]

3 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

It’s a smart idea to speed thing up but will no doubt, but I’m sure it will be met with complaints when travel partners have to board separately.  BTW, I won’t be one that complains, not to mention, I rarely fly on United.  

Actually if they do like Air Canada did when they tested this for international flights people on the same booking where one is on the window get boarded first and together.  It was actually pretty good, mostly keeps things moving and kept someone (who boarded with their zone on time) from having to have people come out to get to their spot.

[trbarton]

2 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

Interesting news perhaps but what does this have to do with Princess Cruises?

Nothing but I couldn’t find the appropriate site to put it in.  Any suggestions & I’ll post it there. 
 

Tom🤔

[FlyerTalker]

4 minutes ago, trbarton said:

Nothing but I couldn’t find the appropriate site to put it in.  Any suggestions & I’ll post it there.

 

Well, you had already had your Alaska Airlines question in the Cruise Air Forum.

 

 

[Honolulu Blue]

32 minutes ago, trbarton said:

I couldn’t find the appropriate site to put it in.  Any suggestions & I’ll post it there. 

This thread has already been moved.  You can check out its new location here:  https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/77-cruise-air/ .

[BOB999]

Given that this will start with Group 4, that means that it will exclude:

 

Anyone in 5 distinct preboarding groups:

Customers needing extra time

United Global Services

Parents with Small Children

Uniformed Military

Premier 1k

 

Anyone in 2 additional Premier Access groups:

First/Polaris Class

Anyone with any kind of United or partner status (even in Basic Economy)

Anyone with any kind of United credit card (even in Basic Economy)

People who pay extra to board early

 

Plus Group 3 (assuming that is going to be Economy Plus)

 

I don't think that this will be that big of a deal.

[PacnGoNow]

6 hours ago, trbarton said:

FYI…United is starting to board passengers according to your seat location. Window will board first  followed by middle & isle. Sounds good to me.  What do other people think?

 

Tom😀

Wilma!!  Been there, done that. They’re just trying it again over the heavy travel period coming up..the holidays.  
 

These long boarding times are because

of “aisle hogs.”   Too long to get that aircraft loaded and ready to go!  🤣
 

It’ll go back to regular boarding again, I’m sure.

 

 

[Ilovesailaway]

I applaud United for trying to take a different approach. The current system sucks. Although the problem appears to be caused more by the passengers than the process.

The gate lice, giant carry on bags, giant personal bags, a third bag..... 

[6rugrats]

I don't think many non-airline employees realize that flights must be boarded and that plane door closed within a certain number of minutes.  As a gate agent, if you don't get that door closed and the flight out on time, you will have a supervisor down at your gate within five minutes, asking what happened.  The same pax that complain that the flight didn't leave on time, are often the same ones who hold up boarding.

 

Not much is really changing.  Preboarding and Groups 1 - 3 remain the same. 

 

Preboarding - Customers w/ disabilities, UNMR, Active-duty military, Global Services, Families with children under age two, 1Ks

 

Group One - Polaris and F, Platinum, Gold and *Alliance Gold

 

Group Two - Silver, *Alliance Silver, Chase card holders, certain international card holders, and paid Premier Access

 

Group Three - Window seats, exit row seats, NRPS and NRSA.

 

Group 4  -  middle seats

 

Group Five - aisle

 

Group Six -  basic economy and customers who don't have a group number on their boarding pass.

 

The largest boarding group is and will remain Group 2.

 

And, to the person who said they would soon go back to Zone Boarding, this is Zone Boarding.

Edited October 20, 2023 by 6rugrats

[Zach1213]

48 minutes ago, 6rugrats said:

The same pax that complain that the flight didn't leave on time, are often the same ones who hold up boarding.

 

Damn I feel like this is such a perfect synopsis of air travel as a whole. Like how the people who fly Allegiant to Punta Gorda or Ryanair to Reus once a year are more vocally angry about the smallest things than the person who flies hundreds of thousands of miles a year. 

Edited October 20, 2023 by Zach1213

[6rugrats]

In my observation, this comes down to the fact that they really have no understanding of how air travel works.

[FlyerTalker]

3 hours ago, 6rugrats said:

In my observation, this comes down to the fact that they really have no understanding of how air travel works.

 

And yet, they are the experts when it comes time to complain and say what the airline should be doing.

 

They know.