If you’re traveling in premium seats, we’ve got good news for you.
American Airlines has made some minor changes to its boarding process ahead of summer travel.
Starting May 1, the Fort Worth-based airline will add a few minutes to the time allotted for boarding, and will also shake up some of the boarding groups, moving some premium cabin passengers further to the front of the line alongside its most frequent fliers.
Passengers used to showing up at the departure gate right at the boarding time for their flight should double-check the time on their boarding passes. American will be stretching out the boarding process by five minutes. Airbus A319 and A320 aircraft will now board 35 minutes prior to departure, while Boeing 737, Airbus A321, and all widebody, two-aisle aircraft will begin boarding 40 minutes prior to departure.
Another big change is for first and business class passengers. Those travelers used to board American’s flights in boarding group one, but have been moved to the preboard group alongside American’s top-level ConciergeKey frequent fliers and families traveling with infants. This ensures premium cabin passengers are actually able to board before most of the rest of the flight—something that didn’t happen when the flight was heavily booked with other top-level frequent fliers not also traveling in first or business class, which could crowd the boarding process at the very beginning.
Continue Reading Article After Our Video
Recommended Fodor’s Video
American boards the remaining groups by frequent flier status. Groups one through four are reserved for passengers who have elite status in American’s AAdvantage program or with a Oneworld alliance partner carrier. American also affords a prime spot to passengers traveling on AirPass, their prepaid program for corporate travelers, and their top level AAdvantage credit card.
The later groups are assigned to other passengers traveling in the main cabin, and passengers in basic economy—American’s lowest, most restrictive fare, board last in group nine.
The process largely mirrors that in place at American’s U.S. competitors, although both Delta and United board their premium cabin passengers in group one, rather than offering pre-boarding for them. Like American, top-level frequent fliers at competing airlines are offered pre-boarding, giving them first access to overhead bin space and allowing them more time to get settled onboard.
Zone boarding has long been standard at airlines, which have never seemed satisfied with how long the boarding process takes for their flights, regardless of how they organize it. Before technology allowed the sorting of passengers into zones by frequent flier status, airlines routinely boarded flights by row number, from the back of the aircraft forward, and the process still seemed to take as long as it does today.
Last fall, American gave its frontline staff new technology to better monitor the boarding line and keep travelers from boarding before their group was called. The technology also lets workers know how many passengers to expect in each group so they can move along the process as needed. The technology is already commonplace on many European airlines, which also board their flights by zone.
Before implementing the technology, American’s staff basically went on the honor system–allowing passengers to board when they chose to board. Now, they get an alert that a passenger is attempting to board before their zone, and they can request that they wait until their zone is called.
American says the feedback to the new zone-monitoring technology has been “overwhelmingly positive” from both employees and passengers. Ninety percent of the airline’s customers are currently departing from hub airports where the technology has been implemented, and American anticipates completing the rollout by the end of 2025.
Frequent fliers and premium travelers have long complained about so-called “gate lice,” who crowd the boarding line well before their group number has been called.
American, on average, boards more than half a million passengers for its flights each day.
