Aiming to speed up boarding and find more room for bags, American Airlines will board earlier
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American Airlines wants you to get on the plane earlier.
Beginning May 1, the Fort Worth-based carrier will begin boarding all domestic mainline flights five minutes earlier than before. The airline shared the news with employees internally Wednesday and later confirmed the changes with TPG.
Though it may seem counterintuitive, the earlier boarding times are being enacted to help expedite the boarding process. American thinks that the jetways are currently too congested during boarding and that it needs to provide pauses between its nine boarding groups.
The new boarding times will be in effect for all domestic flights, including those to and from Canada and Alaska. The changes exclude flights from Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as those operated by American's regional affiliates.
Smaller narrow-body planes, including the Airbus A319 and A320, will be boarded 35 minutes before departure, while larger narrow-body planes, including the Airbus A321 and Boeing 737, will be boarded 40 minutes before departure.
Wide-body jets operating on domestic flights will be boarded 40 minutes before departure.
The airline also hopes that the move will reduce the number of gate-checked carry-on bags. Additional boarding time will allow customers to store their bags correctly in the expanded overhead bins. The adjustment could also give flight attendants and passengers a bit more time to find space for bags.
That said, frequent flyers who enjoy spending more time at home, in the office or in the lounge might not love this change. This means that they will need to arrive at the gate earlier to ensure that they board with their group or, at the very least, early enough to find space in the overhead bin for their rollaboard bags.
The good news is that American will not change the time for the boarding doors to close, which is currently 15 minutes before scheduled departure. More information about American's boarding updates will become available closer to the May 1 implementation date.
The longer boarding process joins other changes that American recently made to its predeparture process, including stricter enforcement of the boarding groups with a loud alarm sound that plays whenever someone tries to cut the line.
American currently uses a nine-group boarding process, with the full group breakdown as follows:
- Concierge Key: Concierge Key members
- Group 1: First class, active-duty U.S. military members with military ID, business class on a two-class international plane, and Executive Platinum elite members
- Group 2: Platinum Pro elite members, Oneworld Emerald elite members and business class on a three-class plane
- Group 3: Platinum elite members and Oneworld Sapphire elite members
- Group 4: Gold elite members, Oneworld Ruby elite members, AirPass members, premium economy, Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® cardmembers (see rates and fees), travelers who bought priority boarding and eligible corporate travelers
- Group 5: Main Cabin Extra (excluding basic economy), eligible AAdvantage credit card members and AAdvantage members who have earned 15,000 Loyalty Points
- Group 6: AAdvantage members
- Group 7: Non-AAdvantage members with a Group 7 boarding pass in economy class
- Group 8: Non-AAdvantage members with a Group 8 boarding pass in economy class
- Group 9: Basic economy travelers
Related reading:
- Your ultimate guide to American Airlines AAdvantage
- Best credit cards for American Airlines flyers
- American Airlines elite status: What it is and how to earn it
- Maximize your airfare: The best credit cards for booking flights
- The best credit cards to reach elite status
- Everything you need to know about flying basic economy on American Airlines
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