United Airlines is set to implement a new plane-boarding system that prioritizes passengers in window seats, a move aimed at saving approximately two minutes per flight, according to an internal company document obtained by The Post. This practice, known as WILMA, will see economy passengers who booked a window seat board first starting from Oct. 26, followed by passengers in middle seats, and then those in aisle seats. United previously used the WILMA method until 2017 but discontinued it when they introduced basic economy seating and had a computer system that only supported a five-group boarding structure. However, with newer technology allowing for more than five boarding groups, the airline has decided to reinstate the WILMA method.
Under the new system, United will utilize six boarding groups, with passengers qualifying for “preboarding” (such as those with disabilities, active military members, and unaccompanied minors) and first-class passengers being given priority. The airline claims that the WILMA method saves two minutes of boarding time per flight.
From Oct. 26, economy passengers will be boarded according to their seat allocation: window seat passengers will board first in group three, followed by middle seat passengers in group four, and aisle seat passengers in group five. The sixth group will comprise of basic economy passengers on domestic flights and those without a designated boarding group on their pass, as indicated in United’s memo. The internal memo suggests that since United discontinued the WILMA method, boarding times have increased by two minutes.
Before implementing the new boarding structure, United has been conducting tests at four domestic airports, including one of their major hubs. However, the memo does not disclose which airports are participating in the WILMA rollout. In a similar vein, Southwest Airlines also recently made changes to their boarding protocols by limiting the number of “EarlyBird” check-in spots available for purchase, which allowed passengers to secure preferred seats for an additional fee. This change came into effect on Aug. 15. Unlike other major US airlines, Southwest does not assign specific seats to passengers ahead of time. Instead, passengers board in the order they checked in for the flight and select their seats once onboard the aircraft.
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