The airline industry is incredibly complex. Each airline maintains a fleet of jets which move about the world each day. With that, airlines have to plan routes, assign aircraft, and maintain appropriate staffing levels each day.
It’s honestly incredible to think about how complex the entire system is. A delay from a single flight can have a rolling effect on the airlines’ entire network. For that reason, airlines employ teams of people to track every flight and make the necessary adjustments to minimize delays throughout the world.
That’s why if you’ve ever tracked your inbound delayed flight it may change several times before an aircraft arrives. Airlines do this because they want to use the aircraft/crew that is able to minimize the rolling effect of a single daly.
However, with all of this incredible technology and planning I find it incredible that airlines can’t seem to figure out the most basic of problems. Throughout the years it seems airlines just can’t quite figure out how to get everyone onboard the aircraft! Over the past several years I’ve seen airlines make several updates to the boarding process. Most notably American recently changed to an entirely numbered boarding process.
United’s Old Boarding Process
United, among other airlines, buys into the numbered group boarding process. Under the old system United assigned a boarding group number 1-5 to all passengers. Passengers would then board the aircraft only when the gate agent called their boarding group number.
Under the old boarding system United would then setup boarding group lines numbered 1-5 in the gate area. Below is a similar example of this setup from my Lufthansa First Class flight earlier this year.
Prior to boarding United passengers would line up in their numbered line within the boarding area. From there, the gate agent would call a group numbers and passengers in that line would board the aircraft.
Personally, I liked the entirely numbered system. My only issue with the old system is that it led to a lot of standing. Under the old system all group numbers would line up in their respective lines to begin the boarding process. If you waited at your seat you would end up toward the back of a boarding group and potentially miss out on overhead bin space.
While I didn’t love standing during the entire boarding process I did appreciate how smoothly the entire process worked. I liked this process because it clearly separated passengers in the gate area which meant you didn’t end up with a mass of people standing in the boarding area blocking access to the boarding door. While I appreciated the old boarding process it seems United’s management did not and they’ve decided to revamp the process entirely.
United’s Updated Boarding Process
A few months ago United updated their boarding process which resulted in a cleaner gate area. Under the new system United still assigns boarding groups numbered 1-5 to all passengers, but now the gate area only features two boarding lane numbers. That’s right, the boarding area no longer has signs for groups 1-5, but instead only has a single sign for groups 1 and 2.
Under United’s new boarding process the boarding area simply features a blue number 1 and a green number 2. Apparently the blue and green colors are important.
So heres how this works. Before I get too deep into this, I want to remind you that this is true. You might think to yourself, “huh” as you read it, but remember, this system was developed by smart smart folks at United.
So, the new boarding process works like this. Group 1 and Group 2 passengers begin the process by lining up in their respective lines. Group 1 on the blue side and Group 2 on the green side. Meanwhile, groups 3-5 remain seated in the gate area (yeah right!).
To begin the boarding process, Group 1 passengers board the aircraft and are quickly followed by Group 2 passengers. Next, once both lanes are clear, the gate agent calls forward Group 3 passengers who then board through the Group 2 boarding lane… The same happens for Group 4 and Group 5. So, Groups 3-5 remain seated until called and then board through the Group 2 green lane… Also, after Group 3 is called, any late Group 1 or Group 2 passengers are directed to board through the Group 1 lane… Honestly, I’m not kidding, here’s a link to the new boarding process as posted on United’s website.
My Experience With The Updated Boarding Process
Now, perhaps I was with a bunch of folks that just “didn’t get it,” but this absolutely did not work as advertised when I had the pleasure of trying it out first hand earlier today.
As expected, the second the boarding process began Group 3-5 customers along with Group 1-2 customers all stood up and tried to join some sort of line. Group 1 and 2 customers were all in the right place of course, but groups 3-5 were utterly lost.
From there after the gate agent called group 2 it was utter chaos. Honestly, how in the world was anyone supposed to know where they go. The sign clearly tells passengers to remain seated, but from there it doesn’t tell them where to go. Group 3 passengers assumed incorrectly to board through the Group 1 lane and Group 4 passengers began trying to line up in Group 2. Plain and simple, it didn’t work.
Final Thoughts
What? I’m not kidding, I honestly can’t for the life of me thought of this. I can only imagine how this meeting at United happened.
“So get this, then Groups 3-5 board through the Group 2 lane which isn’t marked with Group 3-5 in any way. Then, Group 1-2 Passengers naturally know to board through the Group 1 lane while that nonsense is going on in Group 2, which is actually now Group 3-5. Oh, and right, there is nothing that says that about Group 2 now going through the Group 1 lane either.”
It just doesn’t make any sense. What’s even funnier is reading all of the initial hype surrounding this change which calls the process “seamless,” etc.
All in all, I get what United is trying to do here. I like the idea that Groups 3-5 remain seated while Groups 1-2 board the aircraft. Gate crowding is a huge issue at many airports and I can see that United is trying to solve this issue. However, I think their signage is terrible and needs to be updated to properly reflect the new boarding process.
