Passengers who try to board American Airlines flights before their group is called may soon be loudly rejected at the gate and banished back to their group.
American Airlines is reportedly testing out a new system that would sound an audible alarm when passengers try to board out of turn. When the alert sounds, gate agents are instructed to send passengers back to their group.
“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,” according to a statement from the airline.
Most airlines have problems with so-called “gate lice”—individuals who ignore boarding group calls and simply try to slip on board as soon as possible. Most gate agents either don’t notice or don’t confront the sneaks. But that could be changing.
The system is currently being tested at Albuquerque International Sunport in New Mexico, Tucson International Airport in Arizona, and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Virginia.
American Airlines Stops “Gate Lice” In its Path
“A process where passengers have an assigned time to come up to the gate to board, and can come up at that time or later only, and don’t try to crowd the process really does seem like the most civilized approach,” said Gary Leff in an Oct. 16 post on his View From the Wing blog.
United Airlines has a similar system already in place, according to Matthew Klint, a writer for the travel website Live and Let Fly.
“I hear that beep a lot,” he wrote on Oct. 17. “I pre-board due to my Premier 1K status and all the time I run into Group 1 … or 2 … or 5 passengers trying to board early. It’s really quite easy: the system beeps red and the gate agent (usually nicely, sometimes bluntly) tells you to step aside and wait your turn.”
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