A couple of weeks ago, American announced that they will implement a new boarding process starting May 1, which is now today. The airline calls this “simple and straightforward” ahead of the busy summer travel season.
The only true difference with this new process is that First and Business class passengers will preboard, and group 1, which is AAdvantage Executive Platinum, will board after that.
Today, I sat back and observed several flights conduct the new preboarding and the overall boarding process. American’s boarding process has several places to improve, some of which the airline can control and other parts where they can’t.
Here are some of my thoughts and observations from both the new preboarding process and the overall boarding process.
New Preboarding Groups
The preboarding process is broken down into three: Concierge Key, First/Business, and family with children under 2.
From what I saw this morning, they don’t seem to be calling it “preboarding” specifically. Gate agents were just calling up Concierge Key and First Class passengers.
The screens at the gate showed “Boarding First Class.”
Group 1, which include AAdvantage Executive Platinum, began after First. I didn’t see or hear any annoucements for families with children under 2.
Was this smoother? Maybe? I don’t know. I think it does it’s job breaking up the massive group 1 queues, but the overall boarding process still feels like a drag.
Crowding the Gate
This isn’t much to do with the new preboarding, but more with the overall process. We all know that it’s very common for crowds like the photo above to form prior to and during boarding. This was an Airbus A321 flight to Phoenix.
This isn’t a unique issue to American. This photo is a United flight just prior to boarding at Chicago O’Hare. All airlines in the US has these crowding issues that slow down boarding.
What was interesting about the A321 Phoenix flight was that there were a lot of empty seats available for passengers to sit, but instead, most people just chose to stand around the gate. Group 1 hadn’t been called yet when I took the above photo.
I don’t blame passengers for standing by the boarding lanes at smaller gate areas with not a lot of seats. The gate agents can’t control this either. But it was interesting seeing all the open space here with the Phoenix flight that people ignored.
Even as group 1 boarded, there were still a ton of people around the gate. Most people here standing around the gate were groups 3, 4, or 5, or even 6.
There are several factors today that make passengers want to board quicker. Most airlines charge for checked bags these days (including Southwest 😉), so passengers want to board early to secure overhead bin space.
In addition, boarding in the U.S. tends to be an ego-lifting experience, especially on airlines with many boarding groups, such as American and Delta. Airlines incentivize passengers to climb the elite status ladder, with the idea that “if you spend $XX,XXX more money with us, you can board before everyone.”
Boarding in the U.S. isn’t a fun experience. Having flown various airlines, there are definitely better methods to boarding out there, and it is possible to board planes more efficiently.
Back to American Airlines’ case, I do think splitting up First/Business from group 1 is a good idea. Group 1 was often a massive queue, and the slow and long lines lengthened the boarding process. Will this make much of a difference? I don’t know. Now, if passengers can move out of the way of the boarding gates, maybe we can have a smoother time boarding. But with small gate areas with not a lot of spaces to sit, and the chance of having to gate check bags, you’ll always get people crowding the gate.
All photos taken by the author.
