Boarding flights in the United States is a hot mess… it’s a little different than in Japan! Airlines have tried to commoditize the boarding process as much as possible (by giving people an incentive to earn status, pick up a credit card, or outright pay for priority boarding), while doing little to actually enforce the boarding order.
It seems that American Airlines actually has a plan that will see the airline enforcing its boarding priority, and I kind of love it.
In this post:
American’s genius plan to stop boarding “cheaters”
American has nine boarding groups (not including pre-boarding), and all too often you see people not following the correct boarding order, and boarding way ahead of when they’re supposed to. In some cases I suspect it’s because people truly don’t know better, though I would guess that in most cases people know exactly what they’re doing.
Part of the issue with enforcing boarding order is how we go about boarding planes. You generally go up to the gate scanner, and then scan your own boarding pass face down, whether it’s on your smartphone or a physical boarding pass. It’s very rare to see gate agents actually check boarding passes prior to them being scanned. Of course this creates a recurring problem. When people realize they can get away with it once, they do it again.
View from the Wing reports on how American is rolling out technology to simplify the boarding process, and it’s… remarkably easy?
Thanks to new technology from the Fort Worth-based airline, when passengers scan their boarding passes before their group number has been called, an audible tone will go off at the scanner, so that the gate agent knows that they’re trying to board ahead of their group. The gate agent is then supposed to ask the passenger to step aside until their group is called.
American has reportedly trialed this in recent weeks at a couple of airports, and with feedback on the concept being positive, the airline is now rolling this out to more airports. As an American spokesperson explains:
We are in the early phase of testing new technology used during the boarding process. The new technology is designed to ensure customers receive the benefits of priority boarding with ease and helps improve the boarding experience by providing greater visibility into boarding progress for our team.
Well done, American!
It’s not often I say this, but… well done, American, on introducing technology that should improve the passenger experience! It’s important for airlines to enforce boarding priority for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that they market priority or preferred boarding as a perk to so many different passengers.
This is such an obvious and simple solution, and it should make boarding with the first few groups a little bit less stressful. Of course it’s worth acknowledging a couple of points:
- It comes down to the gate agent to actually enforce the rules, based on the tone they hear
- This adds a small layer of complexity for those trying to board with a companion in a lower group, as that’s still generally allowed, but could lead to a tone
Here’s to hoping the airline rolls this out on a widespread basis in the near future.
Bottom line
American is working on rolling out technology to enforce the intended boarding priority. With this new system, there’s a tone when someone tries to board before their group number is called, making it much harder to get away with cutting the line. This is a simple but smart development, and I’m happy to see it.
What do you make of American’s new boarding technology?
It would be great if they could make a solid decision on those with a higher boarding group number traveling with a priority group number. If they are going to allow it, which I selfishly appreciate, they could upgrade the system to automatically assign the priority number to at least those traveling on the same itinerary. I’m a much higher priority board than my husband, so it would be great if he could board with me based on an established process.
It seems aurlines let so many people pre board now. One person may be have difficulty walking or in a wheel chair and they have four family members with them, or others ask to pre board because they have “health issues” but appear to be perfectly healthy. I don’t want to judge people if they truly need to pre board, but when people do it unnecessarily because they want to make sure they get an...
It seems aurlines let so many people pre board now. One person may be have difficulty walking or in a wheel chair and they have four family members with them, or others ask to pre board because they have “health issues” but appear to be perfectly healthy. I don’t want to judge people if they truly need to pre board, but when people do it unnecessarily because they want to make sure they get an overhead spot for their roller bag it is unfair to the other passengers. I usually pay for a 1st class ticket and on one flight there were probably 50 passengers who boarded before me between pre boarding, families needing extra time and who knows what.
On my domestic AA flight this past summer @ PHX, literally 50+ people boarded with group 1...
Avoiding baggage fees / fear of no overhead space; inaudible gate loudspeaker announcements; lack of large LED monitors; gate agents that don't want to be the police; too many group numbers; people acting like cattle; the root causes just go on and on...
This is great. About time.
Could part of the problem be "American has nine boarding groups " 9 ?? Plus all the other special pre boarding groups (we thank you for your service) is beyond maddening. So the infrquent flyer such as myself just waits until last call (+ a minute ot two to hopefully let the jetwau clear out) to board.
I know that the noun “trial” is sometimes used as a verb as in your post, “American has trialed this recently”, but Ben—you are way to polished a writer to insult the English language by turning nouns into verbs. How about substituting “tested” for “trialed”?
Wow. Your reaction is ridiculous to the point of stupid.
It won't work. The agents working the gate just want to get everyone on board so they can close the flight and get ready for the next one. The more people you deny boarding, the longer boarding takes.
It’s about time. Ever since the process started it’s been abused and no one at the gate has tried to enforce the policy. I don’t fly as much as I did but when I did I was top tier and 30-40 people would board in first class.
I am a person with a disability that at first glance is not visible. I am an older traveler. It benefits YOU greatly if I board a little earlier. Not all disabilities are in wheelchairs or walkers. A little kindness folks. Your points are well taken.
Hey Brad, I hear you. About 2 years ago had a small stroke, and at first it was scary to walk. I am much better now, but it takes focus to walk normally. On a trip to DEN last year I discovered that the airport, and apparently several others, will provide a sticker to wear for those of us with otherwise non visible disabilities so that TSA and other airport staff will be aware and sensitive about your well-being. Look into it next time you travel. Take care.
You could also solve a lot by limiting pre-boarding.
If you have a kid below x, your zone is 'pre'board'
If you need - and request a wheelchair ahead of time, your zone is 'pre'board'. (On deplaning, wheelchairs leave the jetway last!)
If you need extra time - your zone is 9! It would be amazing how many people would be cured of needing extra time!
Have a pet/ESA... for the comfort of the pet - your zone is 9!
I am all in favor of this. If I have checked my bag I'm also in no hurry. Regardless of my status (DL Plat) I will wait to be the last to board. It avoids sitting on the aisle and having clueless people with backpacks and large bags constantly ramming you on the way to their seats.
If they let me in there system, Early McBoarder would scan early and get rejected and noted. After 5 or 6 of these rejects, EM would get rejected and the system would assign them to group 99 for the next 5 years.
It's an American population issue: 'I'm the most important person in the world' mindset. This also leads to the 'America-first' issue that is ongoing now. No, you are not the most important, pay attention, and sit your a** down until you're called.
Tone of Shame.
@Ben, I see people traveling as a group board together where only 1 person is let's say, Group 1 and the rest are Group 4 or lower. Will they be stopped from boarding with the Group 1 person?
They will be stopped and the agent will manually override the error message, letting them board. Simple. Works on dozens of airlines around the world. AA is not inventing anything new.
If only AA and others would properly train the gate agents to actually announce the group numbers. Most times they are so scattered and pay no attention. Ironically, many people in line are constantly asking which group is boarding. You'd think the digital gate boards would consistently display the group number but no such look. Contrast this to many gate agents in Asia who are on top of everything and it runs like a machine....
If only AA and others would properly train the gate agents to actually announce the group numbers. Most times they are so scattered and pay no attention. Ironically, many people in line are constantly asking which group is boarding. You'd think the digital gate boards would consistently display the group number but no such look. Contrast this to many gate agents in Asia who are on top of everything and it runs like a machine. It's all about crowd control and US gate agents are extremely poor at this.
Why don’t they just make it where the scanner won’t scan the ticket if it’s not in the right group?
While I'm pleased AA is trying to do something this won't really fix anything. Morons will still try to board before their group thinking they're exempt for whatever reason (number one is that they are traveling with children) or play dumb. The worst are the passengers, usually in Group one or two that feel the need to rush forward when preboards are being boarded.
What would help more, or in addition:
1. Fully explaining...
While I'm pleased AA is trying to do something this won't really fix anything. Morons will still try to board before their group thinking they're exempt for whatever reason (number one is that they are traveling with children) or play dumb. The worst are the passengers, usually in Group one or two that feel the need to rush forward when preboards are being boarded.
What would help more, or in addition:
1. Fully explaining these are preboards and NO ONE except preboards are boarding, including first class. (Now getting rid of the preboard scammers would also help immensely but that's a different discussion)
2. Making an announcement that boarding out of order won't be tolerate and there will be no exceptions.
It’s impossible to read your articles on mobile devices now because the ad pop up has the X off the mobile screen
This doesn't stop the fact that whoever gets buzzed has held up the line whilst an agent needs to tell them to go away and come back later.
Maybe put screens up with the current boarding groups (so that the muffled voices of the gate agent isn't another excuse), there has to be more severe penalty for these things than just buzzing and embarassment, because most Americans don't know what embarassments means in the first place.
But, once they know that can't cheat, they're less likely to try.
I agree that people play dumb at the gate and try to board early, however there are also many times where the GA speaks too fast or the intercom sounds like it's in the bottom of a well! Pax are always looking at each other and asking "Did she say Group 4...???"
If their own fault for creating the nonsense boarding system of giving status to credit card holders etc then potentially trying to put cabin bags in the hold for higher groups. It will still be worth chancing whether or not the person at the gate actually cares or not and even if they do, youre then at the front of the queue for when the group is actually called.
They can design the system so the fate agent has to care. See my previous remarks.
You mean they do what Lufthansa has done for 10-15 years now and because it’s an American airline, it’s innovative ;)
It is a pretty low tech solution. Southwest buzzes if you board in the wrong boarding group alerting the gate agent to check the screen. Southwest is strict if you are a B or C boarding group trying to board with the As.
Ironically on mainline AA boarding priority is the least consequential - their A321s have huge bins, no issues for any boarding group
There is zero incentives for the gate agent to care about this. I board in group 5 all the time on united. It's a huge group so I think the vast majority of group 5 ppl don't even try shit. I wonder how big of a problem it is
Truth is, in America, you never gonna get 20 min boarding like in Japan. 40 percent of American voters are Maga. You think those degenerates care...
There is zero incentives for the gate agent to care about this. I board in group 5 all the time on united. It's a huge group so I think the vast majority of group 5 ppl don't even try shit. I wonder how big of a problem it is
Truth is, in America, you never gonna get 20 min boarding like in Japan. 40 percent of American voters are Maga. You think those degenerates care about anything besides being cruel to brown people?
Come on Ben. You live in Florida! You should know!
Lol what a victim schmuck.
If the system is designed to reject the early boarders, the fate agent has to care. The early boarder is not different than someone using a boarding pass from another flight. If they ket them on, numbers won't match, and the early boarder will not have been boarded in the system. Thus, the cheats will have connecting flights cancelled.
@Group 5
That’s a lot of false assumptions. But Keep the faith be open to both sides. I get live down south and get racially profiled for being white on occasion. The best is when I’m told my ancestors were slave owners. Impossible ; my parents were Jewish business people born in NYC and my grandparents were also business people born im NYC. Not all republicans are MAGA and not everyone loves Trump. Black history...
@Group 5
That’s a lot of false assumptions. But Keep the faith be open to both sides. I get live down south and get racially profiled for being white on occasion. The best is when I’m told my ancestors were slave owners. Impossible ; my parents were Jewish business people born in NYC and my grandparents were also business people born im NYC. Not all republicans are MAGA and not everyone loves Trump. Black history is American history. There’s a lot of misunderstanding on both sides. Finally , wanting to ban the electoral college is unconstitutional. Ben lives in Miami which is one of the lowest crime rates in the U.S. an intelligent voter would vote Republican on the local and state level and can still vote democrat for president.
It is a cultural problem. Very few people really don’t understand or listen to announcements and try to board at the wrong time. The majority knows what they are doing and are playing dumb. It is the same case of people walking by first class and placing their luggage on an overhead bin that says “first class passengers only” and keep walking to the back of the plane like nothing happened. People love to play stupid to take advantage of the system.
Americans don't necessarily play dumb. As an American, I can tell you that Americans, for the most part, ARE dumb.
You make it sound like AA has invented some kind of amazing new technology. Several airlines around the world already have this in place and use it effectively to enforce boarding priority.
Maybe the biggest problem is American has too many boarding groups. For example, I don’t really see the point of having both Group 7 and 8. 6-7 boarding groups are the sweet spot while 9 groups are simply too hard to manage.
9 is ridiculous. Personally, I'd say that any more than 4 is overcomplicating things.
@RichM the least they can do is to merge Group 7 and 8, as there're pretty few economy passengers that are not AA members. Maybe the next thing they could do is to eliminate Group 2, and take non-AA/AS Emerald and AS 100K to Group 1 and AS 75K / AA Platinum Pro to the new Group 2 and use United's line system.
How would you fix the group boarding problems American is currently facing ?
We really have to go back ten years when group boarding problems started. It is all Trumps fault.
Boarding is not being "commoditized" by US airlines, it's being put for sale, aka monetized.
I don't understand: the scanner beeps, but the person is "ON" the flight, so what is a gate agent going to do with these people? They can't release them back to the line (remember, they are "ON"), and there's no space to hold them, so I predict the beep is simply going to be ignored since it will go off anyways multiple times for legitimate reasons (spouse or kids of an EP on a different...
I don't understand: the scanner beeps, but the person is "ON" the flight, so what is a gate agent going to do with these people? They can't release them back to the line (remember, they are "ON"), and there's no space to hold them, so I predict the beep is simply going to be ignored since it will go off anyways multiple times for legitimate reasons (spouse or kids of an EP on a different PNR allowed to board with their significant other or parents, accompanying person to someone needing assistance, etc. etc. etc.)
Appears to be another really really badly thought out AA band-aid.
If current boarding group >= passenger boarding group then beep and “ON”
If current boarding group < passenger boarding group then boop and NOT “ON”
You're inventing a problem that doesn't exist. Almost all airlines on the planet have had this in place for years. If someone scans their BP before their boarding group is called, the system will throw an error and will NOT board the person. Agent has the option to override it and board the person anyway (e.g. on airlines where families with children can board early), but they must actively do so, it doesn't happen by default.
US carriers need to implement automatic turnstiles like many airports have in Europe. Scan your ticket and if it's not the right zone it doesn't let you through.
This will be good at the airports turned immigration centers close to the border. I constantly use Spanish to tell the immigrants being flown around the country by the government with their blue Below Five bags that they’re in the wrong grupo y tienen que esparar.
The question is why this was so hard to implement. There are tons of things that they should do. This is among the easiest and yet even this took this long.
And the other question is: why is American the only US airline to enforce boarding priority?
I doubt it will work as they're generally boarding a bunch of groups at once. I sometimes reach the gate 4 or 5 minutes after boarding starts and they're already on group six or seven. Groups 2 to 4 will be mixed together, as will 5 through 9.
Even if it does work I doubt it will get you on the plane faster. Sure I, an exalted group 2 boarder, want to get on the...
I doubt it will work as they're generally boarding a bunch of groups at once. I sometimes reach the gate 4 or 5 minutes after boarding starts and they're already on group six or seven. Groups 2 to 4 will be mixed together, as will 5 through 9.
Even if it does work I doubt it will get you on the plane faster. Sure I, an exalted group 2 boarder, want to get on the plane ahead of those flea-ridden group 3 reprobates but the time saved by having a few people wait to board with their group will be more than taken up by the gate agent trying to explain to a non-English speaker that nothing is wrong with their ticket, they just have to step aside for a few minutes.
I also don't think early boarding is particularly out of control. As, often, the only group 2 boarder the number of people boarding in group 1, while large, looks reasonable for all of first class plus EPs who didn't upgrade, plus their lower-status companions.
Supposedly it's working in their test markets and given the fact they are trying it at another airport (and larger one) means they might be onto something.
They always test something, it’s always a success, they roll out and eventually roll back :) it’s like when they say: we decided to listen to our customers and we will start selling a fare without bag lmao
As a flea ridden group 3er I always try to get in front of those exalted group 2ers. Usually works since they most often call the groups almost simultaneously. Now as far as those low life group 4ers…wait you damn turn!
What a novel idea in 2024. Groundbreaking technology. The best thing since QR codes.
Funny to read this today. I just boarded a flight from LGA to MIA and it was a complete zoo. They called groups 1 to 4 together so there was a stampede. So anything like you said will be welcome, if employees will be trained properly and actually enforce it
If you have 9 groups why calling 1-4? That means they could have 6 groups. But as they probably call 5-6 and then 7-9, in fact they could do 3 groups lol
I'm more surprised they didn't have it until now. The only other airline I can think off where system lets you board in a wrong group (without a manual override from the agent) is BA which for whatever reason doesn't have groups implemented in their boarding systems. Every other airline I regularly fly, from Lufthansa to Air France, with has this, as can be seen by the number of people turned around after software rejects...
I'm more surprised they didn't have it until now. The only other airline I can think off where system lets you board in a wrong group (without a manual override from the agent) is BA which for whatever reason doesn't have groups implemented in their boarding systems. Every other airline I regularly fly, from Lufthansa to Air France, with has this, as can be seen by the number of people turned around after software rejects their boarding. I think it was implemented back when self-boarding became a thing, so agents checking BPs weren't always feasible (but it also works for boarding via an agent).
The boarding group would not matter at all if there is sufficient overhead space for your belonging. However most airlines decide to monetize the baggage as much as they can and don't provide a timely and safe delivery of the baggage. This incentivizes passengers to have as much carry on luggage as they can get away with.
Anyone who understands basic economics would know the airlines should charge for carryon bags and allow free unlimited (within reason) checked bags. People who must have their things with them (corporate laptops, people with tight connections, time pressure, etc.) will rationally pay for the perk of keeping their bags with them.
Anyone that understands basic decency shouldnt try to monetize things like passengers keeping a bag with them.
Anyone who has studied economics knows this may or may not be true. We haven't observed the demand curves.
Anyone who has studied economics knows that your assertion may or may not be true. We don't observe the demand curves.
This technology has been in place with other airlines for some time. I witnessed pax boarding in the wrong group getting the beep and prevented from boarding last week when I was in Munich. American Airlines… so far behind in so many ways.
Not the first, sure, but that doesn't mean never do it. As the largest airline by pax volume it's still a welcomed upgrade for more people than already benefit from this in Europe.
Pretty amazing- though at some point they should just install automated boarding lanes like in some European airports- that also reject you if you’re too early for your boarding group
Beep ! Sorry, you need to pay more !
Instead of a beep when someone tries to cheat the boarding order, there should be a loud tone with a human voice that yells "ASSHOLE!" at the highest volume. It should go up to 11, volume-wise.
I would prefer that when you scan your boarding pass the voice yells Attention in the boarding area, TravelinPENIS is cleared for departure. TravelinPENIS everybody.
A boarding cheater is not somebody in group 9 boarding in group 1.
It's somebody who is group 1 but arrives late and cuts the line that has already formed for group 1.
I see this frequently. On the west coast, people don't have the balls to speak up. On the east coast, people have the balls to speak up, but the line cutter has bigger balls to talk back, and in effect, nothing changes.
I've seen countless people in low boarding groups at LGA/JFK and all over the country over the years coming up to board during Group 1 or even during priority. It all depends on the Gate Agent. If they feel like being line cop or not. Before I had kids, I didn't give a damn when I boarded anyways, last was fine by me. Now that they're older, it's back to letting everyone else bum rush, we can walk in as the last ones and it's no sweat off our backs.
Haha true
Haha true
I will always do this. Especially if they start boarding before the posted time.
That scenario plainly isn't the fault of the late boarder, but rather of the gate lice cramming the lines - if you arrive 20 mins after Group 1 is ostensibly boarding and you see a line/gaggle forming in front of the gate, how the hell do you know if it's legitimate Group 1 folks waiting to board or just standard-issue gate lice? I'm 100% just gonna walk to the front; in the unlikely event that...
That scenario plainly isn't the fault of the late boarder, but rather of the gate lice cramming the lines - if you arrive 20 mins after Group 1 is ostensibly boarding and you see a line/gaggle forming in front of the gate, how the hell do you know if it's legitimate Group 1 folks waiting to board or just standard-issue gate lice? I'm 100% just gonna walk to the front; in the unlikely event that someone says it's a Group 1 line and produces a Group 1 boarding pass, I'll gladly offer an apology and walk to the back of that line.
You ask politely? Is this group 1? You don’t force yourself to the front. Solved :)