The advances in cell phone technology have certainly changed a lot about how we fly. We can make our reservations, pay for our flights, show our boarding passes, and get our in-flight entertainment, all on our phones. The airlines can even contact us on our phones, via text message. But sometimes I think that the latter one may be a little bit overkill.
I’m not talking about when airlines tell us, weeks ahead of time, that our flight, previously scheduled to take off at 11:52am is now scheduled to do so at 11:54am. I mean, for someone who’s running late, those 2 minutes may make all the difference in the world. And when your flight becomes undelayed and then re-delayed (careful, it can happen!), that’s good to know, too. But how about this situation:
Joe and I were recently scheduled to fly from Orlando to Dulles on United. The morning of the flight, we got the following text a couple of hours before our loading time:
We’re testing a new boarding process for your flight, so your group number may be different than usual. Please wait for the agent to call the group number on your boarding pass before lining up at the gate.
Grammatical incorrectness notwithstanding (it should have said different from, not different than) I was curious about the change. I mean, Southwest’s been doing all sorts of experimental boarding procedures (first this one, then that one) so maybe United was doing something cool and different like them? Or that would get rid of gate lice? Or going back to the best boarding change I thought they ever had done, way back when.
The text had said the change might affect our group number (which was fine with us because we were scheduled to be in Group 4 – pretty pathetic, I know), so we got to the gate early, just in case. I paid close attention to the boarding process.
The first thing I noticed was that, whatever the change was, it didn’t affect the gate lice at all; they were still out with a vengeance.
It didn’t affect our group number either; we were still in Group 4.
Frankly, the boarding seemed exactly the same as usual, too. So we still were in a quandary.
Anyway, so we got on the plane and flew to D.C. When we landed, I sent United a DM on Twitter (since right now they’re still using Twitter. Less and less companies are, so…):
Hi! I received the following TM before my flight. What exactly was the difference for our boarding process? Flt #2065, earlier today. Thanks!
“We’re testing a new boarding process for your flight, so your group number may be different than usual. Please wait for the agent to call the group number on your boarding pass before lining up at the gate.”
They wrote back about an hour later:
Hi there! You can learn about our boarding process procedures here: and then they provided a link to their procedures.
I clicked on the link and got this. The yellow highlight was their doing:
We’re dedicated to providing convenience and comfort throughout your journey with United and are always looking for ways to improve your overall experience. Our customers have told us they want a better experience when boarding, so we’re unveiling just that.
You will see some new boarding lane signs in the gate area that will guide you through the boarding process. There will now be two lanes that are color coded: to begin, Group 1 will board through the blue lane and Group 2 will board through the green lane. The remaining Groups 3-5 will then board through the green lane when called, and Groups 1 and 2 can continue to board through the blue lane.
We encourage you to make yourself comfortable while you wait for your group to be called, and we’ll let you know when we’re ready for you to board. Late arriving customers in Groups 1 and 2 are welcome to continue boarding through the blue lane at any time.
Now, United has been doing the “Lanes 1 and 2” thing for years; since at least September 2018. Some of you may remember that we didn’t fly United for a few years, so while I was researching for this piece, I thought maybe the color coding was new. But no, it wasn’t; it started in September 2018, too.
PC: United Air Lines via USA Today, September 18, 2018
And we just flew on United not all that long ago and didn’t get a text about any changes, so why now???
I seriously wasn’t sure why United wanted to remind its passengers about something that’s been going on for four and a half years, or why they’re even calling it an “unveiling” or that they have “new” boarding signs, when it’s, in actuality, neither.
Then Joe came up with a brilliant explanation. Maybe, just maybe, they’re just SAYING it’s something new (even though it’s not), so people will THINK there’s something different in their boarding procedure and therefore passengers will pay more attention to it? Hmmm…maybe United is doing their own type of mind games, like Southwest recently did?
Except, guess what? It didn’t work.
Remember, I was paying attention.
Group 1 went through the blue lane. Group 2 went through the green line. Everyone else went through the green lane. It wasn’t because the gate agent told them to – you couldn’t frickin’ HEAR the gate agent; her amplification was too low. I think people went on the green lane it was because it was just one lane closer to the gate.
Joe, meanwhile, went through the blue lane (He was the only one who did. I have no idea why. Maybe because he’s color blind? I dunno). And some Group 1 latecomers went through the green lane.
So…their “new” boarding process, which is actually going on 5 years old, still didn’t work very well.
I wish they’d go back to when they had the 5 lanes. People got in line whenever they wanted, the gate lice were at least organized, and everyone was happy.
Feature Photo: UA / Twitter
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6 comments
United added a Group 6, and is going back to WilMA boarding: Preboarding, Group 1 (Gold+), Group 2 (Silver/CCs), Group 3 (Economy windows), Group 4 (Economy Middles), Group 5 (Economy Aisles), Group 6 (Basic Economy).
They just aren’t publicizing it during the trial.
OK. Except one of us had a middle and one an aisle and we were both in Group 4 (granted, we have the same last name, our reservation was made at the same time, etc.). The person with the window seat (no idea if she was Basic Economy or not) boarded after we did. That still meant we had to get up to let her in, which made the queue stop until we were back in our seats. If that’s what they’re doing, and if their goal is speed, they should let the people with window seats, regardless of what type of ticket they bought, be seated before those with middle and aisle seats.
You’ve identified the edge case… the system will assign all travelers on the same PNR to the highest group number. So, in your case, middle (Y group 4) and aisle (Y group 5) gets group 4 boarding so both travelers can board at the same time. Further, the assumption is that most passengers will board at the time their group is called. It doesn’t happen 100% of the time, for obvious reasons, and that’s why this is a trial. The rationale for boarding BE at the very end is to enforce the large carry-on restriction. Sometimes BE pax end up in windows, luck of the draw.
Once UA gets to its “Next” mod on enough of the narrowbody fleet, in which all passengers are supposed to be able to fit a rollaboard, maybe the BE restriction can go away. But it’s at least a disincentive for booking BE in the first place.
Very interesting. Thanks for the info!
Grammatical incorrectness notwithstanding (you should have written “Fewer and fewer,” not “Less and less”).
We never aim to write with grammatical correctness here at YMMV. We use informal/conversational writing. That includes the terms “yeah” and “welp.” We start sentences with “And.” Although we could write eloquently, with perfect grammar, we prefer write like how many people speak in real life.