United Airlines Boarding Groups: Everything You Need To Know

Nothing can start your trip off on the wrong foot quite like a confusing and frustrating boarding process before you even get on the plane. Airlines, however, don’t seem to recognize this issue. Either that, or it’s not a major priority!

Every airline has its own boarding process. They are all different; they sometimes make little sense, and if you don’t travel regularly, you may have trouble understanding what’s going on when it’s time to board your flight.

Let’s go through all the details of United’s boarding process. You can learn how many boarding groups it has, which passengers belong in which groups, and how to make getting from the gate onto the plane as easy and stress-free as possible.

United Boarding Groups

United uses 7 groups for boarding: Preboarding and numbered Groups 1 to 6. Each passenger is assigned to one of these groups and there are 2 lanes for boarding set up at the gate.

Group 1 and 2 line up to board first — Group 1 at the blue lane and Group 2 at the green lane. Once they are on board, Groups 3 to 5 are called to board through the green lane.

If you qualify for preboarding, you can board ahead of your assigned group. In all cases, you can board with the first group you qualify for.

Preboarding

• Customers with disabilities
• Unaccompanied minors
• Active U.S. military members
• Families traveling with children aged 2 and younger
• United Global Services and Premier 1K members

Group 1

• Premier Platinum members
• Premier Gold members
• Star Alliance Gold members
• Premium cabin passengers
  • United Polaris
  • United First
  • United Business

Group 2

• Premier Silver members
• Star Alliance Silver members
• Customers who have purchased Premier Access or Priority Boarding
• Last to board in this group are Chase United credit cardmembers who have the United℠ Explorer Card, The New United Club℠ Business Card, The New United Club℠ Card, United MileagePlus^® Awards Card (no longer open to new applicants), United℠ Presidential Plus℠ and United Presidential Plus Business Card (no longer open to new applications), or The New United Quest℠ Card.

Groups 3

• Economy Plus or economy passengers in window seats or exit row seats

Group 4

• Economy Plus or economy passengers in middle seats

Group 5

• Economy Plus or economy passengers in aisle seats

Group 6

• Basic Economy passengers* and travelers without a boarding group number

*Basic Economy passengers with elite status, a Chase United credit card, or Star Alliance status board according to their regular group.

Priority Boarding

Priority Boarding is marketed to those passengers who do not have any other elite status or card membership, and it would allow them to board ahead of their assigned group. Passengers who purchase Priority Boarding are able to board with Group 2.

United says that this is a good opportunity for passengers to ensure there will be a place for their carry-on bag since space often runs out by the time boarding gets to Group 4 and 5. Critics say that this is a way for United to effectively charge for carry-on bags.

As it is a fairly new option, it remains to be seen how popular Priority Boarding will be and whether it will, in fact, make it more difficult to get your carry-on bag on board if you don’t purchase the service.

Priority Boarding starts at $15, but pricing varies based on the flight booked, date, time of day, and day of the week. In other words, United can charge whatever it wants for the service. Hopefully, pricing will remain rather low.

Hot Tip: For an overview of other add-ons and fees, check out our in-depth review of United Airlines. 

United is Introducing WILMA Boarding in 2025

United will completely revamp its boarding process on October 26, 2025. The new process is called “WILMA” and stands for window, middle, and aisle. As part of this new boarding process, passengers with a window seat will board first, followed by those sitting in the middle and aisle.

United estimates this new boarding order will shave two minutes off the total boarding time. It will also make the experience more seamless, freeing up the aisle so passengers aren’t getting up frequently to let others in their row get to their seats.

Boarding will remain the same for Group 1-2 and the new process will affect Group 3-6:

• Group 3: Passengers in window seats, exit row seats, non-revenue travelers
• Group 4: Passengers in middle seats
• Group 5: Passengers in aisle seats
• Group 6: Basic economy customers

How To Build Up Your United MileagePlus Miles Balance

If you’re like us at Upgraded Points, you prefer to use miles and points to pay for your flights instead of cash. If you want to fly with United, you will want to earn some MileagePlus miles.

The quickest way to build up your United MileagePlus balance is with credit cards — either using huge welcome offers or through your daily spending.

To get United miles, you can either earn them directly with one of the co-branded United cards from Chase (for example, the United Explorer card), or you can earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points or Bilt Rewards and transfer them 1:1 to United MileagePlus.

The latter is certainly our preferred method, as Bilt and Chase points are easy to earn and you can transfer them to many different partners, not just United.

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Final Thoughts

No matter how complex a boarding process is, it’s usually fairly easy to follow if you know what to expect before you get to the gate.

United Airlines has a detailed 2-lane procedure that it uses on almost all of its flights all over the world. Knowing where you fit into that process can simplify your travel experience.

To best prepare for your flight, be sure to familiarize yourself with all of the possible procedures we’ve gone over here. That way, no matter what happens, you will be ready to go and be on the plane with ease.

The information regarding the United MileagePlus^® Awards Card and United℠ Presidential Plus℠ Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.