United Airlines Makes Global Changes to Boarding Process

United Airlines has made changes to its boarding process at airports around the world in an attempt to give customers more space at the gate, less time waiting in line and improved boarding information.

"The boarding process was one of the top areas customers told us they wanted improved," said Sarah Murphy, vice president of Global Operations Strategy, Planning and Design at United. "We listened to customers and employees as we tested a variety of processes on thousands of flights until we found a better boarding process that results in less time spent waiting in lines, improved communication and a better way to recognize our Premier customers while balancing out the number of passengers in each boarding group."

The changes start with reducing the number of boarding lanes from five to two. United app users will also receive a new alert when boarding has begun for their flight, making it easier to know when to make their way to the gate. In the future, United will expand these notifications to text messages. Digital displays in the gate area also keep customers informed with updated helpful boarding information.

United's enhanced boarding also provides an upgraded experience for some of the airline's top MileagePlus members. United's MileagePlus Premier 1K customers who previously boarded in group one, will now be invited to pre-board, and United's MileagePlus Premier Gold customers will also move up in the boarding process from group two to group one. These changes not only give these customers more time to settle into their seats, but also help balance out the number of customers in each of the airline's five boarding groups.

United is also expanding its U.S. military pre-boarding group from uniformed military members to also include all active duty military members to even better recognize those serving the their country.

Qualifying United credit card holders will continue to receive priority boarding in group two.

United started testing a variety of boarding concepts in the fall of 2017, soliciting feedback from customers and employees along the way. United then began rolling out aspects of this process, including updated signage at select airports across its network earlier this year, and putting it into effect at all gates at Los Angeles International Airport in February. Beginning Tuesday (18 September 2018), the new boarding process will take place at over 1,000 gates across the globe.

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