United Premier Line

A new way to collect a few bucks. We have never had any problem with carry on storage and we generally board near the middle. If you were last on maybe it is a problem then. Don't know. We used economy premium on the last trip and it was worth it. It is surprising how much space is an extra five inches.

Another good reason to fly on European airlines.

I am also a Premier flyer. With my Premier seating, I'm always on the plane early enough to get overhead space. You are limited to about 18lbs. Perhaps this service permits more weight or a second bag. Also, I thought that Premier flyers got free checked luggage as well but I need to refresh that thought for our upcoming trip to Barcelona. Next time to Frankfurt, you might want the 6:10pm overnight flight to Frankfurt from LAX on United's Star Alliance partner Lufthansa. You arrive at 10:00 the next morning. It's a great flight.

I've flown United quite a bit. If I recall, when we upgrade to Economy Plus (which is what I'm assuming you mean by premium economy seating), that in itself get's you an improved boarding number. Secondly, check in on line 24 hours before your flight. Call United to confirm if Economy Plus seating also gives you a higher priority # for boarding. For the money spent for extra Economy Plus leg room, I would hope that includes priority boarding as well. Let me know what you find out and how it works as we have the same situation in September.

Thanks to everyone for their responses. I appreciate your help! Karen: You're right: I meant Economy Plus. When I talked with United, they said just having an Economy Plus seat did not necessarily mean earlier boarding, which was when they pointed me to this Premier Line program. I don't think I'm gonna spring for the extra money for this. I'll just check in online the day before and see what happens. I will let you know how my experience was after I return on May 29th to give you a heads up for your trip in September. Thanks again!

Note that window seats often board earlier than aisle seats. If there are two of you, you may find that you won't board together. One of you needs to get on early and grab some overhead bin space. The 777 does have great bin space.

Larry, my experience with United has been that if two (or more) members of a party are in different boarding groups, they can all board with the lowest number (i.e. earliest). Sometimes this is announced and sometimes it isn't, but I've never experienced or seen a gate agent split up a party with different assigned boarding groups.

My experience with United is similar to HK's

Eric, Just wanted to give you a heads up on a domestic United flight I took yesterday. Historically United assigned boarding group numbers based on the order that you checked in for your flight. So the sooner you checked in the earlier you would board. If you waited to check in at the airport, you'd likely be in the last boarding group. That process has apparently changed recently. I upgraded to Econmy Plus for $39.00 and check in 24 hours before the flight, thinking I'd have a lower boarding #. But now United boards First and other priority passengers, and then back of the plane forward. So since I was in row 10, I was one of the last people to board. First, they were asking for volunteers to check bags at the gate since there would not be enough room (which I volunteered my bag). Then they started checking any and all large bags, rollers especially, for about the last 20 people. I also had a back pack with my computer and all my work stuff, and they wanted me to check that. I told them it was company policy that I could not check my computer, and then they let me keep my back pack. Not sure if this new boarding policy applies to Europe flight or not. But this would support their new "service" to entice people to purchase the "premier line" in order to get priority boarding. By the way there was "extra" room in the orderheads. And the premier line only applies to the holder, not people traveling with them.