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. ||||| CHICAGO, Nov. 30, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- United Airlines today announced it has reached an agreement with Compañía Panameña de Aviación S.A. (Copa), Aerovías del Continente Americano S.A. (Avianca) and many of Avianca's affiliates, for a joint business agreement (JBA) that, pending government approval, is expected to provide substantial benefits for customers, communities and the marketplace for air travel between the United States and 19 countries in Central and South America. 
 
 Many more choices for customers 
 
 By integrating their complementary route networks into a collaborative revenue-sharing JBA, United, Avianca and Copa plan to offer customers many benefits, including: 
 
 Integrated, seamless service in more than 12,000 city pairs 
 
 New nonstop routes 
 
 Additional flights on existing routes 
 
 Reduced travel times 
 
 Drive economic benefits for consumers and the communities we serve 
 
 The carriers expect the JBA to drive significant traffic growth at major gateway cities coast to coast, which is expected to help bring new investment and create more economic development opportunities. Further, the JBA is expected to provide customers with expanded codeshare flight options, competitive fares, a more streamlined travel experience and better customer service, resulting in significant projected consumer benefits. 
 
 Better serve our customers 
 
 Additionally, allowing the three carriers to serve customers as if they were a single airline is expected to enable the companies to better align their frequent flyer programs, coordinate flight schedules and improve airport facilities. 
 
 "This agreement represents the next chapter in U.S.-Latin American air travel," said Scott Kirby, United's president. "We are excited to work with our Star Alliance partners Avianca and Copa to bring much-needed competition and growth to many underserved markets while providing a better overall experience for business and leisure customers traveling across the Western Hemisphere." 
 
 "We are delighted to further solidify our existing partnership with United Airlines and look forward to increasing service options for our customers by working more closely with Avianca," said Pedro Heilbron, Copa Airlines' chief executive officer. "We believe this agreement benefits our passengers by providing competitive fares and a superior network of more than 275 destinations throughout Latin America and the U.S., and promotes further growth and innovation within the airline industry in the Americas." 
 
 "We are certain that together we are stronger in the United States – Latin America market than any of the three airlines individually," said Hernan Rincon, Avianca's executive president – chief executive officer. "This partnership will allow Avianca to strengthen its position as a first-level player in the airline industry in America as we will expand our scope in the continent with United and Copa, offering better connectivity to our customers." 
 
 JBAs drive competition that benefits customers 
 
 Although JBAs have been proven around the world to benefit consumers and enhance competition, currently 99 percent of the U.S. carrier passenger traffic that makes connections in Central and South America does so without a JBA. Competition in the U.S.-Latin American market has grown and includes a diverse set of carriers offering service across multiple price points. Yet the market lacks a comprehensive revenue-sharing, metal-neutral network of carriers and the associated heightened competitive forces that drive value and better consumer experiences. The JBA represents an innovative, best-in-class new product offering that will make competition in this robust market even stronger. 
 
 "Our analysis shows that a metal-neutral JBA among United, Copa and Avianca will provide substantial benefits to consumers traveling between the relevant countries," said Dr. Darin Lee, executive vice president of economic consulting firm Compass Lexecon and airline industry expert. "This JBA will enable United, Copa and Avianca to compete more effectively, offer competitive fares, and increase service, encouraging innovation and establishing a more robust and vibrant marketplace." 
 
 To enable the deep coordination required to deliver these benefits to consumers, communities and the marketplace, United, Copa and Avianca plan to apply in the near term for regulatory approval of the JBA and an accompanying grant of antitrust immunity from the U.S. Department of Transportation and other regulatory agencies. The parties do not plan on fully implementing the JBA until they receive the necessary government approvals. The JBA currently includes cooperation between the U.S. and Central and South America, excluding Brazil. With the recently concluded Open Skies agreement between the U.S. and Brazil, the carriers are exploring the possibility of adding Brazil to the JBA. 
 
 About United 
 
 United Airlines and United Express operate approximately 4,700 flights a day to 356 airports across five continents. In 2017, United and United Express operated more than 1.6 million flights carrying more than 148 million customers. United is proud to have the world's most comprehensive route network, including U.S. mainland hubs in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Newark/New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. United operates 760 mainline aircraft and the airline's United Express carriers operate 546 regional aircraft. The airline is a founding member of Star Alliance, which provides service to 193 countries via 28 member airlines. For more information, visit united.com, follow @United on Twitter or connect on Facebook. The common stock of United's parent, United Continental Holdings, Inc., is traded on the Nasdaq under the symbol "UAL". 
 
 Safe Harbor Statement 
 
 Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Certain statements included in this release are forward-looking and thus reflect United's current expectations and beliefs with respect to certain current and future events and anticipated financial and operating performance. Such forward-looking statements are and will be subject to many risks and uncertainties relating to our operations and business environment that may cause actual results to differ materially from any future results expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. Words such as "expects," "will," "plans," "anticipates," "indicates," "believes," "estimates," "forecast," "guidance," "outlook," "goals" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Additionally, forward-looking statements include statements that do not relate solely to historical facts, such as statements which identify uncertainties or trends, discuss the possible future effects of current known trends or uncertainties, or which indicate that the future effects of known trends or uncertainties cannot be predicted, guaranteed or assured. All forward-looking statements in this release are based upon information available to us on the date of this release. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. Our actual results could differ materially from these forward-looking statements due to numerous factors including, without limitation, the following: general economic conditions (including interest rates, foreign currency exchange rates, investment or credit market conditions, crude oil prices, costs of aircraft fuel and energy refining capacity in relevant markets); economic and political instability and other risks of doing business globally, including political developments that may impact our operations in certain countries; demand for travel and the impact that global economic and political conditions have on customer travel patterns; competitive pressures on pricing and on demand; demand for transportation in the markets in which we operate; our capacity decisions and the capacity decisions of our competitors; the effects of any hostilities, act of war or terrorist attack; the effects of any technology failures or cybersecurity breaches; the impact of regulatory, investigative and legal proceedings and legal compliance risks; disruptions to our regional network; the ability of other air carriers with whom we have alliances or partnerships to provide the services contemplated by the respective arrangements with such carriers; costs associated with any modification or termination of our aircraft orders; potential reputational or other impact from adverse events in our operations, the operations of our regional carriers or the operations of our code share partners; our ability to attract and retain customers; our ability to execute our operational plans and revenue-generating initiatives, including optimizing our revenue; our ability to control our costs, including realizing benefits from our resource optimization efforts, cost reduction initiatives and fleet replacement programs; the impact of any management changes; our ability to cost-effectively hedge against increases in the price of aircraft fuel if we decide to do so; any potential realized or unrealized gains or losses related to any fuel or currency hedging programs; labor costs; our ability to maintain satisfactory labor relations and the results of any collective bargaining agreement process with our union groups; any disruptions to operations due to any potential actions by our labor groups; an outbreak of a disease that affects travel demand or travel behavior; U.S. or foreign governmental legislation, regulation and other actions (including Open Skies agreements and environmental regulations); industry consolidation or changes in airline alliances; our ability to comply with the terms of our various financing arrangements; the costs and availability of financing; our ability to maintain adequate liquidity; the costs and availability of aviation and other insurance; weather conditions; our ability to utilize our net operating losses to offset future taxable income; the impact of changes in tax laws; the success of our investments in airlines in other parts of the world; and other risks and uncertainties set forth under Part I, Item 1A., "Risk Factors," of United's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017, as well as other risks and uncertainties set forth from time to time in the reports we file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 
 
 SOURCE United Airlines 
 
 For further information: United Airlines Worldwide Media Relations, +1-872-825-8640, media.relations@united.com ||||| 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. ||||| 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 … 
 
 30 COO AVIATION PHOTOS: The last MD-11 to Dreamlifters to test planes 
 
 Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2NjrbY6
– 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.)