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I have mixed feelings. I hate the nickel and diming, but ever since they started charging for checked bags, the boarding / deplaning process has been a nightma

I have mixed feelings. I hate the nickel and diming, but ever since they started charging for checked bags, the boarding / deplaning process has been a nightmare. So if this speeds up boarding, it could be a good thing. The other thing that they could do, which would garner good will, and speed up boarding/deplaning would be to offer a checked bag for free to everybody. But I bet they are contractually locked out of that, as a free checked bag is a perk offered by most airline affiliated credit cards.

jghn 10y ago
I always wished they had charged for overhead instead of checked. Yes, there are some conveniences to carry on but as you note it really breaks down when everyone decides to use it
- MiddleEndian 10y ago
  If there were an airline without any overhead bins at all I'd use that one for 100% of my flights.
ygra 10y ago
Admittedly, I only flew on United once (coinciding with how often I've visited the US so far), but in my eyes the complete boarding process was a horrible inefficient mess. They seem to regularly overbook flights to 150 % or so and then first ask any passengers whether they want to go on a different flight maybe since there are too many passengers. Then seemingly everyone brings baggage that should have been checked (like, gigantic suitcases and bags) as carry-on baggage, so they ask whether anyone of those would rather have their bag put on the flight as checked baggage. All that takes plenty of time already since usually no one seems to be willing to volunteer. And then comes boarding in five different classes, most of which are distributed evenly across the plane, so the different boarding classes seem to be more about who likes to get their head bashed with baggage while they're already sitting, getting up to let people through to the window seat, and, perhaps the most useful, overhead storage bin space. Admittedly, boarding in groups is common everywhere, although I haven't seen that many different classes until then. But I haven't ever seen overbooking to that extent or the fight for every bit of cabin baggage space to that degree.
lintiness 10y ago
if they offer a checked bag free, they can't quote a ridiculously low fare on the popular travel search sites.
technofiend 10y ago
No I think the $6 Billion in fees Unites is racking up every year prevents that. :-)

jghn 10y ago

I always wished they had charged for overhead instead of checked. Yes, there are some conveniences to carry on but as you note it really breaks down when everyone decides to use it

MiddleEndian 10y ago
If there were an airline without any overhead bins at all I'd use that one for 100% of my flights.

ygra 10y ago

Admittedly, I only flew on United once (coinciding with how often I've visited the US so far), but in my eyes the complete boarding process was a horrible inefficient mess. They seem to regularly overbook flights to 150 % or so and then first ask any passengers whether they want to go on a different flight maybe since there are too many passengers. Then seemingly everyone brings baggage that should have been checked (like, gigantic suitcases and bags) as carry-on baggage, so they ask whether anyone of those would rather have their bag put on the flight as checked baggage. All that takes plenty of time already since usually no one seems to be willing to volunteer. And then comes boarding in five different classes, most of which are distributed evenly across the plane, so the different boarding classes seem to be more about who likes to get their head bashed with baggage while they're already sitting, getting up to let people through to the window seat, and, perhaps the most useful, overhead storage bin space. Admittedly, boarding in groups is common everywhere, although I haven't seen that many different classes until then. But I haven't ever seen overbooking to that extent or the fight for every bit of cabin baggage space to that degree.

lintiness 10y ago

if they offer a checked bag free, they can't quote a ridiculously low fare on the popular travel search sites.

technofiend 10y ago

No I think the $6 Billion in fees Unites is racking up every year prevents that. :-)