United has changed the boarding process to save time for the fall season, a measure it will implement beginning Oct. 26. The airline has decided to add a seventh boarding group and will distribute economy class travelers into four different groups depending on whether they are booked in the window, middle or aisle seat.
United also noted that there will be no changes to pre-boarding and no changes to groups one through three, but group four, which are middle and aisle seats, will be divided into two boarding groups, one group four will be middle seat passengers, and group five will be created for aisle seats only, the company told airport staff, according to Travel Pulse.
In markets where United offers a basic economy fare with no carry-on option, they will be part of a new sixth category.
For economy passengers with more than one ticket in a reservation, they will be able to be in the preferred boarding group. Also, the process named WILMA was tested in several airports where they realized that it saves two minutes in boarding, according to Mensjornual.
As REPORTUR.us reported, United recently equipped more than 100 aircraft with Bluetooth in its fleet. United announced at the time that passengers will be able to use wireless headsets on its planes in just three steps (United integrates Bluetooth headsets and ditches wired headsets).
The airline has tested the new technology with Apple’s Air Pods Pro headphones to offer other innovative in-flight features such as Adaptive Audio which fades out noises such as aircraft engines.
Source: Reportur.com
