American Airlines has announced that it’s rolling out a redesigned mobile app, with some new features. Given that American trails the competition when it comes to tech, I suppose this is something we should be happy about.
American redesigns mobile app, adds new features
American is introducing a redesigned mobile app, which should be rolled out through the end of May 2025 (so you can either force the update, or wait for it to happen naturally). It’s worth noting that this isn’t the finished product — the app immediately has a new look and feel, and the platform sets the foundation for future app upgrades and new features.
Here’s how Heather Garboden, American’s Chief Customer Officer, describes these changes:
“We’re dialed in to delivering on new ways to make our customers’ travels with us as easy as possible, so improving their most powerful tool — the app — is a significant focus of ours. Over the last year, our team has been taking feedback from customers to understand their pain points and wish lists to make sure we’re tailoring the next evolution of the app to deliver what they want most. This newly redesigned app is the first step in giving us a base that will allow us to continue to build and release new features so we can always deliver what customers value most.”
Here are the changes that American customers can expect to immediately see with the new app:
- A more personalized home screen that features upcoming trips and AAdvantage account information
- The ability to use the app seamlessly on an iPad
- A new section dedicated to AAdvantage members, with account information, plus information about status and miles
- A new section dedicated to all upcoming trips, plus intuitive options to review flight status and find a trip
- Easy-to-use navigation with a similar look and feel to other apps customers use in their daily lives
- Inspiration about destinations to which American flies and ways to engage with American’s partners
- iOS upgrades including “Live Activities” to display real-time flight updates on the lock screen
These new features are in addition to all the existing ones, like being able to check-in online, receiving a mobile boarding pass, accessing flight status, checking the status of checked bags, and much more.
This app update is a step in the right direction
I just updated the American app, and played around with it for a couple of minutes. My first impression is that it looks pretty nice, but it seems that for now, the changes are mostly cosmetic. I am happy to see American investing in its app, so I’d say this is a step in the right direction. I’m curious to see what new features American plans to add, as that hasn’t been announced.
Historically, American has greatly lagged the competition (in particular, United) when it comes to tech, and that’s true of both the website and app. In fairness, we’ve seen some nice incremental improvements to American’s app over time, and I don’t actually find the American app to be that bad to use. Really, my biggest complaint with the app has been how often it glitches, so if everything just works as it should, I’m a happy camper.
Just remember that the current app updates seem to largely be cosmetic, but pave the way for more improvements to be made over time, with this being used as the platform for doing so.
Bottom line
Between now and the end of May, those with the American mobile app should get an update that features a full redesign. But it sounds like that’s only the beginning, as the airline will progressively be rolling out new features, and I’m curious to see what those include.
What do you make of American revamping its mobile app, and what new features would you like to see?
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