American Airlines Trying Something New on Passenger Boarding
I read an article on View From the Wing that American Airlines will finally enforce the boarding group priority. For those you do not know, passengers are segregated on airline into different boarding groups. Other than Southwest Airlines, a higher group entitles you to board your flight first and have access to the premier overhead bins.
If you have traveled in the last decade, you have seen people line up for boarding well in advance of the time that the gate is open. With some airlines, it is just a mess with these lines. People from all different groups are together. When they call out the first group, invariably these passengers have to wade through the mass of people with lower priority boarding. What irritates me are the people that jump the boarding line. I have seen people from group 5 try to board with group 1 or even first class. More often than not, the gate agents will let these people through.
What this means for people like me is that there is less overhead bin space or less advantageous space. I hate to gate check my carry-on and why should someone who jumps a line have their bag in the overhead space and I do not. In some instances, I may have paid more to board early so did I just waste my money?
American Airlines is taking a hopefully positive approach in addressing the zone jumping people. As the boarding passes are scanned, if a person is not in the group being called, then the scanner will beep and not accept the boarding pass. The zone jumper will be directed to stand aside since they will not be able to board.
The fault in this system however, is that the gate agent will have the ability to override the system to allow the passenger to board. I wonder if gate agents will just let everyone pass through in order to avoid confrontation. I have to lean that way. I would wager that this system while a positive approach will be undone by ineffective personnel who do not want to deal with passengers who have air rage.
I am rooting for the American Airline's solution and hope that people will follow the rules so that boarding is a civilized process. What do you think?
