United Airlines will start boarding passengers in economy class with window seats first starting next week, a move designed to reduce the time planes spend sitting on the ground.
The airline said in an internal memo that it will implement the plan on Oct. 26. The plan – called WILMA, for window, middle and aisle -- was tested at several locations and deemed to shave up to two minutes off boarding time.“It spreads people out along the aisle of the airplane so that more people can put their luggage away at the same time.
United said that when multiple customers are on the same economy reservation, such as families, they will be allowed to board together.Airlines have long searched for the perfect boarding process. Orville and Wilbur Wright flipped a coin to see who got the lone seat on their flying machine. Tinkering with the boarding process has increased since airlines began charging fees for checked bags more than a decade ago. Those fees encourage passengers to bring carry-on bags, which generally are still free except at low-cost carriers such as Spirit and Frontier.
Two minutes doesn't make much difference on a transatlantic flight, but on heavily trafficked shorter routes — think about the Northeast, or between the Hawaiian islands — delays tend to cascade, pushing late-day flights farther and farther behind schedule.
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