American Airlines believes that starting boarding five minutes earlier will relieve congestion around the gate and on the aerobridge and make the process more efficient than it is today. Starting May 1, the airline will add five minutes to the overall boarding time for all its flights.

On Friday, American Airlines announced it is adding an additional five minutes to the time allocated for boarding on all its flights. According to USA Today, the US airline is tweaking its boarding process to make boarding the aircraft more efficient and also to reduce the likelihood of passengers having to gate-check their carry-on bags.

Passengers boarding an American Airlines flight at Dallas Fort:Worth International Airport DFW

Photo: JW_PNW | Shutterstock

Once the change is implemented, boarding will commence 35 minutes before departure on flights operated by Airbus A319 and A320 aircraft and 40 minutes before departure on flights operated by Boeing 737, Airbus A321 and all widebody aircraft in American’s fleet.

American Airlines spokesperson Rachel Warner said the extra time will deliver a smoother boarding experience for customers by allowing for pauses between boarding groups, relieving congestion on the jet bridge, and allowing customers to stow their bags and settle before departure. Warner added:

“In addition, American’s gate agents and flight attendants will have more time to complete their pre-departure work and deliver personalized service to our customers. Flight attendants and gate agents will have more time to monitor and confirm when overhead bins are full, helping to reduce the number of involuntary gate-checked bags when bin space is still available.”

American Airlines Boeing 777-300ER landing at Miami International Airport MIA shutterstock_2578999635

Photo: Rene Dominguez | Shutterstock

The airline is not just adding an extra five minutes to extend the available time, as it said it will use that time to allow for pauses between boarding groups that will relieve congestion on the jet bridge. American Airlines (American) added that the additional five minutes will give customers more time to stow their bags and get settled, although without more bin space or stricter carry-on rules it is hard to see how adding five minutes will fix that problem.

Technology to put people in their place

In November, American announced it had successfully trialed technology to ensure all customers benefit from boarding in their assigned group. Human nature being what it is, that hardly ever happens at any airport in the world, so the provision of technology to support airline staff and add more visibility to the process is welcomed.

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If a customer tries to board before their allocated group is called, the new software will not accept the boarding pass and instead will make an audible sound. That will make it very clear who the offender is and also make it easier for gate agents to take action and have that passenger rejoin the line when their group is called.

The system was trialed for a month at Albuquerque International Sunport (ABQ), Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) and Tucson International Airport (TUS) to iron out any bugs and gain some insights. American is now rolling out the boarding technology to more than 100 spoke airports across its network.

American Airlines Boeing 737 at DCA shutterstock_2148196479

Photo: Kit Leong | Shutterstock

These are the American Airlines boarding groups

  • ConciergeKey members
  • Group 1: First class, active duty US military with military ID, AAdvantage Executive Platinum and business class on a 2-class international plane.
  • Group 2: AAdvantage Platinum Pro, oneworld Emerald and business class on a 3-class plane.
  • Group 3: AAdvantage Platinum and oneworld Sapphire
  • Group 4: AAdvantage Gold, oneworld Ruby, Air Pass members, premium economy, Citi / AAdvantage Executive cardmembers and travelers who purchased Priority boarding.
  • Group 5: Main Cabin Extra (excluding basic economy), AAdvantage members who earn 15,000 Loyalty Points and eligible AAdvantage credit cardmembers.
  • Group 6: AAdvantage members.
  • Group 7-8: Main cabin.
  • Group 9: Basic economy (does not apply to AAdvantage status members, AAdvantage members who reach 15,000 Loyalty Points during the qualification year or eligible AAdvantage credit cardmembers.)

While the boarding process will start five minutes earlier, the aircraft doors will still be closed 15 minutes before the scheduled departure time.

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