American Airlines is implementing a new system to ensure passengers don’t board early.
The airline has piloted a system that will beep when someone tries to board before their assigned boarding group is called.
“We are in the early stages of testing the new technology used during the boarding process,” an American Airlines spokesperson said in a statement to the Washington Post.
Passengers trying to board early will hear a beep when they scan their boarding pass, and the gate agent will be shown a message with the appropriate group.
“The new technology is designed to ensure customers can easily receive the benefits of priority boarding and helps improve the boarding experience by providing greater visibility into boarding progress for our team,” the representative explained.
The new system is currently being tested at Albuquerque Sunport International Airport (ABQ) and Tucson International Airport (TUS) with plans to soon expand to other locations such as Washington Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA).
So far, American Airlines said they were satisfied with the test results.
On Reddit, one traveler documented hearing an “error beep” and seeing passengers being told to “please leave.”
“Saw this in action yesterday,” added one commenter. “It was wonderful. I saw about 5 people get kicked out of line for trying to board before their group was called. The time has come!”
Travelers tend to jump ahead of boarding out of a tendency to conform and a sense of competition, human behavior experts explain, according to WaPo. Airline employees often refer to these people as “gate lice.”
American Airlines typically gives priority to passengers with airline status for boarding, as well as those who have paid for seats at the front of the plane. Those paying for priority boarding are in group 4 and main cabin passengers board in groups 7 and 8. The lowest priced basic economy group boards last.
The trial has been met with positive feedback and has not slowed the onboarding process, Gary Leff wrote for View From the Wing.
“Gate agents are busy and don’t always look at boarding groups when people scan their boarding passes,” he wrote. “This is simple, but genius.”
He noted that it is still possible to ride with a group number that has not yet been called depending on the situation. For example, if you are in a different boarding group than a family member, you can ask the agent before scanning or explain behind the voice, and the agent has the ability to clear the flag and let you board.
“I generally like this, although I worry about agents having the discretion of whether to make an exception — you’re going to have some who refuse to do it when they have to,” Leff wrote.
“But overall it looks positive, because once passengers start seeing early boarding rejected, they’ll learn not to do it.”
Leff noted to WaPo that airlines could do something like this to encourage fliers to earn frequent flyer status or sign up for their credit card, but overall, his readers were in favor of the new procedure of boarding.
“There is very little objection to the idea that people should ride in a certain order,” he said. “There’s frustration from passengers when others don’t follow that norm.”
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