United Airlines is trying for a better boarding process, more like those of other airlines, and will abandon its strategy of setting up five different lines in the boarding area, in favor of a plan that uses two lanes and group number calls.
If there’s one thing that almost no airline ever gets right, or at least makes customers happy with, it’s the boarding queue. All kinds of academic studies have looked at the ‘best’ way to do it, but it always fails for one (or both) of two reasons.
One reason is that gate areas tend to be crowded and space in overhead bins limited. So, no matter how many groups the airlines assign, at the first hint of boarding a large portion of the passengers start jockeying for position at the head of their assigned group, often blocking access for the group being called. No airline has yet figured a strategy to keep passengers seated until called.
The other is that airlines subvert their own proclaimed desire to load the plane in an efficient order. All the theories of front-to-back, back-to-front, staggered loads, window-first, etc. go out the window when it’s time to slot in the elites, who are not all in first or business. United, and all the other majors, create priority groups for elite loyalty members, holders of certain credit cards and more. If they happen to be seated in a part of the plane that should be loaded later, the planned order is subverted.
But good luck, United! Worth a try.
