United Airlines will soon prioritize window seat boarding to speed things up by 2 minutes
Written by ABC AUDIO on October 19, 2023
(NEW YORK) — Good news for flyers who opt for the window seat — your boarding zone will soon be prioritized on United Airlines.
According to an internal memo from the Chicago-based carrier obtained by ABC News, starting on Oct. 26, the airline will change its boarding process for economy class passengers that will speed up getting seated and situated by two minutes.
United Airlines’ new WILMA boarding process
“WILMA” boarding, which was tested at four domestic line stations, seats economy window passengers first followed by middle seats and aisle seats.
While this does not affect pre-boarding groups, premium cabins and flyers with premier or alliance status before Group 3, the revision ensures that window seats and exit rows are followed by middle in Group 4 and aisle passengers in Group 5 during the boarding process.
“Multiple customers in a same economy reservation will receive the same and highest applicable boarding group excluding Basic Economy customers in boarding Group 6,” the memo stated.
According to United, this change comes at a time when there’s a need for more efficiency, with the airline stating that “boarding times have increased by up to two minutes since 2019.”
The change also comes ahead of the busy holiday travel season that has previously been fraught with delays, in which a speedy boarding process can be extremely helpful in ensuring on-time departures.
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