United Airlines Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:UAL) reported third-quarter results Tuesday evening, but the real news for frequent flyers came from an internal memo that revealed the airline plans to start boarding passengers with window seats first.
The new system, known as WILMA (window, middle and aisle), is set to go into effect on October 26. Testing at four domestic locations and one hub led to a reduction in boarding time of up to 2 minutes.
WILMA will only apply to economy class passengers, the memo said. Staring in Group 4, window seat passengers will board first, followed by middle seats and then the aisles.
First and business classes will still board first, United said, and families in economy class will still be allowed to board together.
Meanwhile, for the three months to September 30, United reported adjusted earnings per share of $3.65, compared to the Street expectation of $3.40.
Revenue was $14.5 billion, ahead of the expected $14.44 billion, according to Zacks Investment Research.
Contact Andrew Kessel at andrew.kessel@proactiveinvestors.com
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