American Airlines has expanded a new technology to over 100 airports which prevents line jumpers from boarding before their group is called.
The airline announced the system is now being used across the country after they had successful early testing across three locations in October.
The airline’s senior vice president of airport operations, reservations and service recovery said in a statement that the initial response from customers and employees ‘has exceeded expectations.’
She added that the airline was ‘thrilled’ to have the technology up and running before the Thanksgiving holiday.
Airline industry analyst Henry Harteveldt noted that almost every flyer has witnessed the frustrating habit of impatient flyers.
He added that he doesn’t see the airlines technology roll out as a way to ‘shame’ those jumping ahead, but instead a way to ‘bring order out of chaos’.
‘I hope it will defuse any potential flare ups of anger [from] people who simply think they’re entitled to board out of turn. It’s just not fair,’ he said, adding that he believes it will enhance the experiences of both customers and gate agents.
However, others remained skeptical such as Seth Miller, editor and founder of air travel experience analysis site PaxEx.aero, who said that he isn’t ‘100 percent convinced this is perfect for passengers’ yet.
On Wednesday, American Airlines announced that the technology is now being used across the country after they had successful early testing across three locations in October
An airline industry analyst, Henry Harteveldt, added that he doesn’t see the airlines technology roll out as a way to ‘shame’ those jumping ahead, but instead a way to ‘bring order out of chaos’
He believes that the new technology would cause hold ups for those traveling in pairs or groups, or lines are only one difficult customer away from arguments and delays.
Both Miller and Harteveldt said they wouldn’t be surprised if other carriers soon follow American Airline’s lead.
The new tech was rolled out for testing in October and is designed to play a sound to gate agents if a boarding pass is scanned before the passenger’s boarding group is called.
A spokesperson told Travel + Leisure: ‘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.’
In its early testing, many flyers who encountered the technology were in support of it and were happy to see the rules being implemented.
One user on Reddit posted that they saw other flyers attempting to board in the first boarding group were met with an error beep when their boarding pass was scanned, and they were asked to step aside.
A commenter on the post also claimed they saw the new tech in its testing phase and wrote: ‘It was great. I saw about 5 people get punted out of line for trying to board before their group was called. About time!’
One DailyMail.com commentor wrote: ‘This is the best news I have heard all month – seriously. Everyone that has to get onto a plane has somewhere important to be. Maybe also – they will put a stop to the people that stow their bags in front when they have a seat at the back of the plane. It obviously causes a chain reaction and it is extremely pompous’
Many DailMail.com readers were also enthusiastic about the technology, with many believing these preventative measures should have been implemented long ago.
One person said: ‘About time. This should have been done/enforced decades ago, it isn’t that hard.’
Someone else added: ‘This is the best news I have heard all month – seriously. Everyone that has to get onto a plane has somewhere important to be. Maybe also – they will put a stop to the people that stow their bags in front when they have a seat at the back of the plane. It obviously causes a chain reaction and it is extremely pompous.’
Another reader commented: ‘I’m all for it. There are too many out there who ignore the rules and it’s part of what make flying these days so aggravating.’
One frequent flyer said: ‘It’s about time.’
‘Great move,’ said another person.
Currently the airports that have adopted the technology are all spoke, or non-hub, locations but the airline expects to further expand to hubs and other airports in the coming months.
