United Airlines Announces Big Change to Boarding Policy People Might Not Approve Of
There are a lot of stressful parts of flying (especially the whole TSA situation) but one of the worst has to be boarding the plane. There's a lot of standing and waiting around, struggling to get your carry on in the overhead bins, and attempting to get oriented in your seat. And speaking of seats, if you're in the dreaded middle seat — my condolences — there's also a lot of shuffling if the person who scored the aisle seat is already sitting there when you make it onto the plane. It can be such a big headache!
But one airline is attempting to solve that issue, though they're doing so in a way that some frequent travelers may not approve of. United Airlines has made a big change to their boarding policy to attempt to make the process that much easier, and it could affect your travel this holiday season.
A news report from Fox 5 New York that was shared on YouTube on Tuesday, October 17 laid out all of the changes coming for United Airlines passengers. The new policy is based around boarding according to where people are sitting, so in some cases, those in the middle seat would have a chance to board before those in the aisle, reducing all that shuffling that happens in the process.
Those with early boarding wouldn't be affected; those with pre-boarding and those in groups 1-3 would still board as usual. Group 4 will consist of any passengers who have middle seats and haven't boarded yet, while group 5 will be for those with aisle seats. The airline also created a new group 6 to follow for fliers who don't have a carry on with them.
The new changes are set to go into effect on Thursday, October 17, and hopefully, it will all run smoothly. According to Travel & Leisure, the airline has used this policy before, but phased it out in 2017.
With holiday travel about to ramp up in just a few weeks (can you believe Thanksgiving is right around the corner?) this could be a major time saver.
And if you happen to be on one of the flights taking place after the change, take it easy on the flight attendant. Something tells me disgruntled customers aren't going to take this change lightly!
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