United Is Now Selling Priority Boarding as an à la carte Option

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United is now offering some fliers the opportunity to purchase priority boarding. With it, there's no need to purchase the rest of the carrier's Premier Access bundle package, which also includes priority check-in, security, boarding and baggage handling. If boarding early is the only important part to you, you can opt to purchase just that benefit — à la carte.

The optional benefit is new for United as of March 2. As first reported by Live and Let's Fly and confirmed to TPG, United is offering the option to board in Group 2 of the boarding process to standard economy passengers for the initial price of $9. Availability for purchasing Group 2 boarding is controlled based on flight, date, time-of-day and day-of-week restrictions. So, the option won't be available on every flight. In addition, the option isn't available to passengers with a basic economy ticket — only those booked in standard economy.

United said that it doesn't anticipate any significant impact on the current size of the group of passengers boarding in Group 2. The airline says that by adding the à la carte boarding option, it now offers its customers more options and makes it competitive with other airlines.

"Priority Boarding as a standalone product will offer choice to customers who want to board early yet do not want the full Premier Access product, primarily those with TSA PreCheck who do not need the security component,"Jennifer Cool-Perik, merchandising program manager, said.

This is a nice addition from United by adding the option for fliers who aren't interested in purchasing the full package of Premier Access benefits. If you're interested in making sure you can secure an overhead bin space, the boarding could be one to consider purchasing. With a starting fee of just $9, it's reasonably priced. Unfortunately, however, the option isn't available on every flight. If you're interested in purchasing the benefit, you can do so during the booking process or when managing your current reservation on united.com.