Illinois, Prepare For This New Plane Boarding System For Holidays 2023

Holiday travel might be a month or so away but there's already something new in the works to look out for.

Going anywhere around the holidays sucks. The roads are congested, people get super temperamental at the airports, and it's all busy. It just sucks. But a new process from an Illinois airline hopes to alleviate at least some of that.

According to NBC Chicago, United Airlines is introducing it's new boarding order on October 26th, and it's going to be contingent on where exactly you're sitting. Obviously we board in zones, but the new system depends on what seat you're in.

How This Is Going To Work

The goal is to get rid of the whole "seat shuffle" thing when someone tries to squeeze into the seat on the other side of you. So what United is doing is rolling out a boarding procedure called 'WILMA' (which stands for window, middle, aisle).

Even with the system in place, if you fly first class, business class, exit rows and cardholders, or if you preboard, you won't see any changes. The rest of us will.

Window seats will be allowed on the plane first, followed by middle seats, followed by the aisle seats. After that, Basic Economy tickets will be able to board.

A family can board together though. If one family member has a window seat while the others have aisle and middle, they can all board together.

Joe Leader, CEO of the Airline Passenger Experience Association, said:

One of the most inefficient things on every aircraft is when you watch what I would call the ‘seat shuffle'. It’s the least attractive aerial ballet on the planet. And I like anything that makes it simpler for customers.

The plan will be used on all of United's domestic flights and a few international flights. So if you like to sit in an aisle seat, be prepared to chill and wait a few extra minutes to board this holiday season.