Boarding groups - Delta does it better
I have a feeling that this has been raised before but still feel strongly to add my voice again, partly because I am pretty tied to United for my travel needs and really want to see an improvement in the boarding process.
United truly needs to redesign the boarding groups.
I had to fly Delta three times recently due to work schedule and a vacation stop without United service. In my opinion, Delta’s 8-zone system is way better than the current chaos with United.
United needs to realize that the two jargons “Global Service” and “1K” do not make any sense to non-frequent UA fliers (just as I can’t remember Delta tiers). These non-frequent fliers are the exact ones who need to understand what the jargon means on the tiny black sign with little fonts of 5 categories. They are often in group 3-6 and there is no signage for their groups to line up (unlike DL lists all zones in two separate lanes). So whenever they see groups 1 and 2 start to line up, they become anxious and decide to congregate in the boarding area, usually near that little tiny preboarding sign. Then the gate agent starts to call out the long names of preboarding groups, and suddenly some people become disabled, some decide they will enlist, running children become babies, and more just believe that the agent is calling them strange names to serve the world or whatever “1K” means.
I’ve become desensitized to such chaos until I flew Delta flights recently. Shockingly, most people stayed seated until their zone was called. Having absolutely no status there, I witness the orderly boarding from zone 5. I didn’t need to understand what the top-tiers are called because they are already assigned into zone 1 and 2. So are active military personnel, babies, and people with true disability—all of which the airlines should already know at booking. So, when I joined the next United boarding again I wondered why United cannot do a simple renaming of groups to improve the process.
Just put the current preboarding groups into a few numbered groups. You can combine a few of them like Group 1 for disabilities and babies, Group 2 for GS, Group 3 for active military, Group 4 for 1K (which is sometimes the biggest group these days). Then continue with the general boarding groups from Group 5 onward.
A simple fix. I can’t think of any reason why this cannot be done. If some 1K people have such a strong ego that they must have “1” on their boarding pass, then they can ask to be put in Group 11 or 111. No?