One of the most stressful parts of traveling is boarding a plane only to find that there
isn’t any overhead space.
The next thing you know, you’re having to walk down the airplane aisle in search for
an overhead bin that’s away from your seat.
Or even worse, you’re forced to check-in your bag because there isn’t any space available.
Hey, how’s it going, everyone?
It’s Ernest from Trip Astute.
In this video, we’re going to cover ways to get ahead of the general crowd when boarding
a plane, and how you can you increase the odds of getting a coveted overhead bin space.
I know many of you like to pack light and avoid checking in your bag.
Doing so means you not only save on baggage fees for many flights, but also on the time
having to wait at the baggage claim for your luggage.
There are also times when you don’t want to risk the chance of losing your luggage
on a flight, especially if you’re going to a special event or important work meeting.
Though getting an overhead bin space can be a challenge, especially if you’re on a full
flight.
It also doesn’t help that many passengers will often start putting all their bags and
personal items in the overhead bins, taking up the previous room for bags that can’t
fit underneath a seat.
If you’re one of those people, make sure to wait until everyone is on-board before
stuffing the bins with your personal items.
So today, I want to explore how to get priority boarding on a flight.
I know some of you hate the idea of paying extra.
But since this is a common stress point during air travel for me, I’m guessing it’s the
same for you.
I know that I’ve often felt that it’s worth paying a bit extra if I can increase
the odds of getting overhead bin space, and in the case of Southwest and JetBlue, getting
a better seat.
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The traditional way of getting into a priority boarding group is to have airline status.
In fact, when I used to travel every week as a consultant, I earned United Gold status
which I absolutely loved.
Since I was spending a lot of time in planes, being able to get on-board early and stow
my baggage without any worries was great.
And every once in awhile I’d get a bump into business class, which was even better.
Nowadays, I don’t travel as much for work.
So getting priority boarding is more of a challenge.
So I thought we would explore the options available with some of the major airline carriers
in the US.
Of course, there are a ton of different airlines with different policies.
But for the sake of the video, I thought we would focus on American Airlines, Delta, JetBlue,
United, and Southwest.
So, let’s jump into each airlines priority boarding options.
For American Airlines, you’ll notice when selecting your seat that American Airlines
tries to steer you toward premium seats with the promise that you can board earlier and
get better access to overhead bins.
However, you don’t have to get an expensive premium seat.
You can purchase a priority boarding pass when booking your ticket or even after your
booking is complete.
The prices vary but start at $9 per way.
Buying Priority Boarding gets you into Group 4, which is two groups ahead of the main boarding
group.
There are still a lot of boarding groups ahead of you, but I think you’re still likely
to find an overhead bin if you’re in any of the groups prior to group 7.
For Delta, you can purchase Priority Boarding for $15.
This allows you to board during the Main Cabin 1 group.
The Priority Boarding covers a flight, so you would need to purchase it for multiple
legs if you don’t have a non-stop flight.
The Main Cabin 1 Group is where some of the lower-tier status members are boarding, so
it’s very likely that you’ll get an overhead bin space.
Sadly, anyone seated in Basic Economy folks is almost guaranteed to struggle to find any
bin space.
And the option to get Priority Boarding is not an option if you’re in Basic Economy.
For JetBlue, they offer a service called Even More Space.
You’re essentially getting a larger seat, priority boarding, and access to special security
lines.
It costs around $30 to $90, depending on your flight.
The Even More Space boarding group is fairly high on the list, so your odds of getting
an overhead bin space is high.
For Southwest, it’s a bit complicated.
Southwest assigns your boarding position based on the time that you check-in to your flight.
Basically, they allow you to check-in 24 hours before your flight.
Though if you’re not quick to check-in, you can often end up in a later boarding group.
Southwest passengers with A-List status automatically get into the A boarding group.
However, Southwest does sell an Early-bird check-in service for flights.
For $15 to $25 dollars per flight, you can be automatically checked in, which usually
means that you’re in the A group.
There’s no guarantee, but you’re definitely going to be ahead of the general boarding
group that manually checks in.
For United, they offer a few options for priority boarding starting at $15.
This gets you into Boarding Group 2, which is just ahead of the general boarding groups.
They also have a Premier Access service that lets you use special security lines.
However, like Delta, the caveat is that you can’t get either of these services if you’re
flying on a Basic Economy ticket.
So, you might be asking, aren’t there other ways to get priority boarding?
The answer is yes.
For those of you that watch this channel, you know that I have the United Explorer card
which not only gives me free check-in bags and additional award seat availability but
also priority boarding.
In fact, many of the airline cards offer some kind of priority boarding service.
I guess you could call it the poor man’s airline status, but hey, it works.
For example, for American Airlines, the Citi AAdvantage Executive card gives you priority
boarding.
The personal and CitiBusiness AAdvantage Platinum Select cards give you preferred boarding as
part of your card membership.
As I mentioned earlier, Priority boarding puts you in group 4, and preferred boarding
puts you in group 5.
The general boarding starts at group 6, so it should help alleviate the issue of finding
overhead bin space.
For Delta, the American Express Delta Reserve, Platinum Delta SkyMiles, and Gold Delta SkyMiles
cards all offer Main Cabin 1 Priority Boarding.
Unfortunately for JetBlue, neither of the JetBlue cards from Barclaycard offer any sort
of priority boarding perk or benefit.
For Southwest, the Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Card and the new Performance Business
card offers four upgraded boardings per year.
And for United, both the Chase United Explorer and United Explorer Business provide Priority
Boarding, which is Group 2.
The Chase United Club card offers Premier Access.
And finally, there are several other cards that offer some kind of travel credit or flight
incidental credit.
For example, the Chase Sapphire Reserve offers a $300 travel credit which can be applied
to pretty much anything related to travel.
Both the American Express Platinum and Gold card have an airline fee credit which you
can only use on incidentals, like baggage fees, lounge passes, or even priority boarding
upgrades.
While buying airline gift cards used to work to trigger this credit, it no longer does.
So, consider getting a priority boarding pass if you need to use your airline fee credit
on your Gold or Platinum card.
Lastly, I have a few tips I want to share if you’re interested in priority boarding.
1.
Priority boarding passes are usually non-refundable: I know this to be the case since I have changed
my Southwest flights way too many times and have lost the early-bird check-in that I purchased.
These services are usually not transferable either, so if you switch your flight, you
usually have to re-purchase the priority boarding if you want it.
It’s very annoying, but it’s just the way it is.
2.
Consider getting Global Entry or TSA PreCheck: Some of these priority or preferred boarding
services allow you to skip into an expedited security line.
However, it’s sometimes the same line as TSA PreCheck, or one that is similar.
I personally think that Global Entry and TSA PreCheck are valuable services to get, especially
if you have a credit card that will reimburse you for the enrollment fee.
For more information on Global Entry, which includes TSA PreCheck, check out our video
on it.
Having these services really helps to reduce the stress of air travel by making it easier
and faster to get through security.
And if you happen to have multiple cards with the Global Entry or TSA Precheck reimbursement
benefit, consider applying it toward a family member or friend who travels.
3.
Consider an award status match: If you happen to be a frequent flier on a specific airline,
but are traveling on another airline without any status, consider requesting a status match.
We did a whole video on the process, so check it for more information.
4.
Pack a collapsible bag: Despite your best effort to travel without checking in your
bag, there is always the possibility that you’ll have to do it.
If you don’t have another personal item or bag, I recommend packing a collapsible
bag.
This will allow you to quickly transfer some items from your main bag in the event that
you’re forced to check-in your carry-on luggage.
This happened to me when I used to travel for work.
There was one week where I flew to a smaller airport to visit a data center in Texas, and
the plane had smaller overhead compartments which did not fit my bag.
So always assume that you might have to check-in your bag, even if you don’t want to.
Have any of you paid for a priority or preferred boarding upgrade?
Or do you just use a credit card benefit to board early?
I’m curious how you all handle this stressful and annoying aspect of air travel.
If you’re interested in applying for a credit card, we would love it if you used our link
in the video description or on our website.
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sign-up for our free card consultation service.
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Until next time, travel safe and travel smart.