Photo:LOGAN CYRUS/AFP via Getty
LOGAN CYRUS/AFP via Getty
United Airlines is changing up the way passengers board its planes — and those in window seats may take priority.
Here’s everything you need to know.
What is the benefit of this plan?
WILMA will help cut down on the amount of times passengers who are already seated need to get up in the aisle to let others in, per the memo. This should reduce the overall time it takes to board the plane, getting passengers seated and in the air more efficiently. In tests, United said, the WILMA method saved about 2 minutes during boarding.
Who boards first now?
There won’t be any changes for passengers in first class and other premium boarding categories. They will still board before all other economy passengers.
Carry-on restricted basic economy passengers and customers with no boarding group number on their boarding pass will board the plane last.
What about families and groups traveling together?
As for those traveling in groups or families, they will be assigned the highest boarding number together, with the exception of those in economy.
And people with small children?
There will also be no changes for people in the pre-boarding group, which includes travelers with disabilities, active-duty military and families traveling with young children.
How much time will it save?
United Airlines said that through its previous WILMA tests, it has saved up to two minutes of boarding time per flight. The process was tested at four domestic locations and one major hub, perAssociated Press.
Has this been attempted before?
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
When does it start?
United Airlines is set to launch WILMA on domestic flights and some international flights next week on Oct. 26, perAP.
Have other airlines implemented this successfully?
Other airlines includingLufthansahave already switched to using a version of WILMA. Lufthansa was one of the more recent airlines to move over to WILMA in 2019.
source: people.com
