American Airlines Targets Group Jumpers with New Boarding System

American Airlines seems to be gearing up to make a major change to its boarding system that will start to punish those flyers trying to sneak onboard earlier than their assigned group.

American flyers departing from Albuquerque International (ABQ) and Tucson International Airport (TUS) are the guinea pigs for a new boarding system that the airline is trialing. The new system will stop those sneaking on to earlier groups in the boarding process. Flight attendants will ask those trying to jump the line to step aside and wait for their group.

American flight attendants had, in the past, denied boarding to some trying to skip ahead. What’s new now is that the technology used when scanning boarding passes will deny boarding to those trying to jump ahead.

Several American flyers have confirmed the experience of seeing group jumpers denied. Here’s how one social media user, who flew out of Alburquerque, described it:

As usual, group 1 was flooded with people but several people ahead of me when trying to scan their boarding pass got an error beep. The gate agent proceeded to tell them [Sir/mam you are group 5, please step aside]. Was awesome to see this enforced and looked like it was system-driven vs gate agent having to make that call.

American plans to add more airports to the trial—next will be Washington Reagan National (DCA), and there are already reports about it happening there.  

American is pitching the changes as a way to make sure that those with priority boarding get those benefits. Mainly, the ability to use carry-on space, which tends to be full by the time passengers in the final groups get a chance to board on full flights.

Still no word on what airlines will do to combat other issues boarding, mainly passengers hovering around the boarding lines before their gates are called. But American’s move, if and when it becomes an industry-wide standard, is a good start to a smoother boarding process for all flyers.