Saddle up to the gate on your next United flight and you may notice that there's now a different system in place for loading passengers. Just this week, Chicago-based United Airlines updated its boarding process to rely on fewer boarding lanes, a move that will cut down on congestion and potentially speed up passenger loading. 
 
 The new boarding process has been in the works for months. In June, United started experimenting with different boarding procedures in a handful of test gates in Chicago and Houston, two of the busiest hubs in the airline's network. Now, as of this week, the official new boarding process is finally in place. 
 
 Moving forward, the airline will still have five boarding groups but will only use two lanes for boarding. Elite and other priority passengers in group 1 and 2 will load through lane 1, while customers in group 3, 4 and 5 will use lane 2. Those not actively boarding will be asked to remain seated until paged. Chase co-branded credit card holders, according to the blog Wandering Aramean, will board in group 2. 
 
 In addition to the new boarding process, United is also launching push notifications for those who have the airline's mobile app. Those who opt in will be given a push notification when boarding starts, a tool that will be particularly useful if a flight is delayed or if the ground crew decides to load the aircraft early. 
 
 This week's updates come as the latest milestone in a long history of experimentation that United and other airlines have performed around the oft-complicated and congested boarding process. Several years ago, in an effort to better segment the cabin and speed up loading, United started using five lanes to feed through passengers. And while that method successfully segmented passengers in the boarding zone and prepared them for departure, it also created a fair amount of idle, standing passengers and congestion near the gate – especially during delays. The new strategy launched this week helps alleviate that problem. 
 
 Indeed, some of United's peers are already using this simplified process. American Airlines currently boards by zone using only two lanes while Delta Air Lines splits the difference and boards with four. One difference between United and its competitors, however, is that as of this week, top tier or "1K" elite members will be able to pre-board before the official process starts; with most carriers only VIP passengers are given that access. 
 
 New boarding lanes and gateside notifications should roll out to airports this week. ||||| Don't crowd the gate: United rolls out a new boarding process 
 
 CLOSE United says it’s streamlining its boarding process. Gone are the five boarding lines used in the previous process. It is a new two-lane, color-coded process that will handle a staggered boarding call. USA TODAY 
 
 United has become the latest airline to tweak the way it calls passengers to board its planes. 
 
 In a change that’s rolling out to United gates nationwide on Tuesday, the carrier says it’s streamlining its boarding process. 
 
 With that, United joins American and Delta in making changes to the boarding call since early 2017. 
 
 TODAY IN THE SKY: 'Nobody is winning' the airline boarding nightmare 
 
 At United, gone are the five boarding lines used in the previous process. In is a new two-lane, color-coded process that will handle a staggered boarding call. 
 
 The lanes will be numbered “1” and “2.” Beyond that, lane 1 is the “blue” lane while lane 2 is “green.” 
 
 When it’s time to board, United will call pre-boarding that's open to its top-tier “Premier 1K” and “Global Services” frequent-flyers, active military, customers with disabilities and families with children ages 2 and younger. They'll board via lane 1. 
 
 This graphic provided by United attempts to explain its new boarding process. (Photo: United Airlines) 
 
 Next comes Group 1, which includes first- and business-class customers plus Platinum- and Gold-level frequent-flyers. Group 1 also boards through lane 1, while Group 2 lines up in lane 2. 
 
 Group 2 boards once the Group 1 queue clears. Who is in Group 2? Silver-level frequent-fliers and certain United credit-card holders and customers who’ve purchased United’s priority access or boarding privileges. 
 
 Travelers in Groups 3, 4 and 5 will be asked to remain seated while the first two groups line up and board. 
 
 After Group 1 and Group 2 have boarded, Groups 3 through 5 will board through the green-colored Lane 2. They’ll be called by number, starting with 3 and ending at 5. Group 5 will include most Basic Economy customers. 
 
 Members of Group 1 and 2 who are still arriving to the gate area will priority board via the blue-colored Lane 1. 
 
 United says it’s implementing the boarding change after “testing a variety of boarding concepts” since last fall. The new system has been in affect at Los Angeles International Airport since February and will now roll out to all United locations beginning Tuesday. 
 
 United’s changes hint at the struggle airlines have had in creating a boarding process that doesn't stress out customers. Even with precisely delineated groups and queues, many travelers still feel compelled to stand in line to hold their spot. 
 
 Both American and Delta rolled out similar changes in early 2017. 
 
 Southwest, of course, has its own type of system since it has no assigned seats. It calls for fliers in its “A” group to line up at their corresponding pillars, which display numbers indicating where passengers should stand. As the “A” group boards, Southwest repeats the process for the “B” and “C” groups until all passengers have boarded. 
 
 That system, enacted in 2007, was meant to address crowding in the gate areas as customers queued up to be first on the plane. The move didn’t eliminate pre-boarding line-ups, but it did add order to the process. 
 
 “Airlines now have so many different tiers of boarding groups, between their different levels of elite-status members and their co-branded credit card customers and others," Henry Harteveldt, an airline analyst and founder of San Francisco-based Atmosphere Research, told USA TODAY's Today in the Sky blog at the time. “The result is frustration, crowding, unpleasantness and stress. Nobody is winning here.” 
 
 TODAY IN THE SKY: Would you bid 420,000 miles to see a parked plane? These frequent-fliers did (story continues below) 
 
 United said customer feedback helped push it to come up with a new system. 
 
 "The boarding process was one of the top areas customers told us they wanted improved,” Sarah Murphy, United’s vice president of Global Operations Strategy, Planning and Design, said in a statement. “We listened to customers and employees as we tested a variety of processes on thousands of flights until we found a better boarding process that results in less time spent waiting in lines, improved communication and a better way to recognize our Premier customers while balancing out the number of passengers in each boarding group.” 
 
 One big challenge that could remain for United is how its elite-level frequent-flyers will sort themselves out in the updated process. 
 
 When a large number of United’s elite customers are flying on a single flight, it's been a frequent complaint in recent years that it would seem as though half the plane (or more) boarded in the first two groups. Whether elite customers now filter more evenly into the updated boarding groups on such flights remains to be seen. 
 
 Stay tuned … 
 
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 Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2NjrbY6 ||||| Fuller flights are a boon to airlines but overcrowding at gates has become an unwelcome side effect. 
 
 United Airlines says its customers have complained about clusters of travelers around its gates. Travelers spilled into corridors and arriving passengers who just stepped off a flight were met with hordes of departing travelers. 
 
 "It's too congested," said Maria Walter, United Airlines' managing director of global operations strategy. "It created a lot of angst from our customers." 
 
 The airline on Tuesday debuted a new boarding process in an effort to combat this passenger pain point, and make sure flights depart on time as more travelers than ever opt to fly. 
 
 United reduced the boarding lines to two from five, and is urging travelers to wait until their boarding group — numbered 1 through 5 — is called. United carried close to 155 million passengers in the 12 months ended in August, up 6.1 percent from the year-earlier period, the company said last week. 
 
 The airline now sends out notifications to passengers on their mobile devices to let them now boarding has begun once the first boarding pass is scanned, so that travelers don't have to hover around the gate. 
 
 Travelers would sometimes queue up an hour before a flight, Walter said, which would attract even more passengers to the line. "It's like a magnet," she said. ||||| Birds of a feather may flock together, but United Airlines recently shot down one traveler’s request to bring her emotional support peacock on a flight departing Newark Liberty International Airport. 
 
 Live and Let Fly reported earlier this week that even though the unidentified woman claimed that she had a second ticket for the peacock, the airline denied her request. 
 
 A spokesperson for United further tells Fox News that the traveler(s) with the peacock were told they would not be able to bring it on board. 
 
 "This animal did not meet guidelines for a number of reasons, including its weight and size. We explained this to the customers on three separate occasions before they arrived at the airport," said United in a statement. 
 
 Photos of the unusual scene were shared to Facebook by travel talk show The Jet Set, sparking online commenters to both condemn and champion United’s decision. 
 
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 “Unbelievable, this has to stop now!!” one user wrote. 
 
 “I'll take the majestic peacock over the 5+ dogs that have attacked my coworkers just this past holiday season,” another supposed airline staffer fired back. 
 
 The news comes on heels of Delta’s controversial crackdown of emotional support and service animals. On Jan. 19, the airline announced forthcoming restrictions in hopes of curbing an abuse of policy and an 84 percent increase in ill animal behavior such as urinating, defecating, biting and attacks on flights. 
 
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 Effective March 1, Delta’s new rules require those flying with emotional support or psychiatric service animals to submit a veterinarian health form and immunization record to Delta with 48-hours’ notice, Fox News reports. A doctor’s note, signed veterinarian health form and proof of animal training will additionally now have to be presented before boarding. 
 
 Further, as of March, Delta will not allow exotic emotional support animals including ferrets, insects, spiders, goats or animals with tusks or hooves to fly. 
 
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 United has recently confirmed to Fox News that they are reevaluating their current support animal policies. 
 
 "United is dedicated to providing convenient and comfortable service to all of our customers. We know that some customers require an emotional support animal to assist them through their journey. In order to ensure we provide the best service to everyone onboard our flights, consistent with government rules we currently require these customers to provide documentation from a medical professional and at least 48 hours advance notice," they said via email. 
 
 "In our effort to better balance protecting our employees and customers while accommodating passengers with disabilities, we are reviewing our existing policy and plan to share more soon."
– The "angst" travelers feel at overcrowded gates may soon be eased at United Airlines terminals, an exec for the airline says. That's because United just began a new initiative designed to relieve that particular "passenger pain point," as CNBC puts it, by changing up its departure protocol: The number of boarding lines has been cut from five to two, and overeager customers are now asked to stay out of the boarding area until their boarding group (one of six in total, including pre-boarders) is announced. "It's too congested," a UA rep says of the current procedure, which often results in arriving fliers having to push their way through throngs of departing ones. Forbes notes customers can also opt in to receive push notifications via the mobile app, meaning they can hang out in nearby restaurants or shops until they receive an alert on their cellphones that it's time to board. Over the past year, United test-drove a variety of boarding options on about 12,000 flights, ending up with this system, which is similar to the way American, Delta, and Southwest queue up. United has been using the procedure at LAX since winter and will now implement it at all locations, per USA Today. It's also spreading passengers around more equitably within its six boarding groups, which includes pre-boarders (e.g., families with young kids, service members), first-class passengers and frequent fliers in groups 1 and 2, and then everyone else in groups 3, 4, and 5. "The boarding process was one of the top areas customers told us they wanted improved," another UA rep says in a statement, noting customer and employee feedback guided the airline on the enhancements. (United had some "unfortunate dog incidents" earlier this year.)