American Airlines is cracking down on ‘gate lice’ with new boarding system

Every air traveler has been there. The boarding process begins, and the gate fills with passengers before their zones are called.

They are popularly known as “Gate lice“Despite feeling ashamed and… He mocked In popular culture, American airports continue to suffer from outbreaks.

Enter American Airlines, which recently announced that it is in the first phase of testing a new technology to help deal with these pesky creatures. When a passenger tries to board early with the wrong group, the new system will give an “audio signal” to the gate agent, according to the airline.

Agents will not accept boarding passes for passengers who have triggered the signal, and those passengers will be returned to the plane with their group, according to the airline.

The technology, which is in an early stage of testing, has so far been rolled out at Albuquerque International Airport in New Mexico, Tucson International Airport in Arizona, and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Virginia.

“The new technology is designed to ensure customers can easily access the benefits of priority boarding, and helps improve the boarding experience by providing greater visibility into boarding progress to our team,” American Airlines said in a statement.

Gary Leff, who ran the travel site View from the wing Over the past 22 years, he said he first learned about the program from a reader who encountered the technology in Albuquerque. Since then, more readers have come forward to share their positive reactions, he said.

“People think you have to join your assigned boarding groups,” Mr. Neff said. “Cutting the line doesn’t meet the standards that people tend to like.”

Travel experts believe non-compliant passengers are increasingly on the rise as airline passengers who want to secure valuable overhead storage space locate theirs as soon as possible.

“You have a lot more line cutters today than you used to, because now there’s a benefit to boarding early that didn’t exist before,” said Scott Keyes, founder of Going.com, a travel app that alerts people. To cheap flights from their home airport.

Unruly travelers may have become more emboldened recently due to the ever-rising prices of checked bags, which incentivizes the use of carry-on luggage. Influencers and social media posts have also promoted tips for easy boarding of previous groups. Gate agents hoping to avoid unnecessary delays may also not execute the correct boarding order depending on the group.

Travel experts believe technology can act as the bad cop and flag out queue-cutters, rather than leaving it up to the gate agent alone. Signaling may reduce rule-breaking and reduce confrontation between airline staff in helping passengers get to their gates.

“What I hope is that this message gets out to the public and that the boarding lanes don’t get clogged,” said Clint Henderson, managing editor of The Points Guy, a website dedicated to travel-saving tips. “Honestly, a lot of people in this line know they’re not supposed to get up early, and they know they can get away with it.”

American Airlines said it was pleased with the results so far, as were many passengers who took to social media to share their thoughts. One passenger said on the social media platform Reddit that they “enjoyed watching the sneaky passengers get embarrassing justice in front of everyone.”

Three other passengers kept their reaction short and sweet. “It’s time!” They said.