American Airlines is expanding its new boarding technology to more than 100 airports across the United States to improve the boarding process for passengers and support team members.
In a press release published on November 20, 2024, the airline announced that this new boarding platform will allow customers to board with their assigned group while providing team members with better visibility into the boarding process.
The technology has been successfully tested over the past month at Albuquerque International Sunport (ABQ), Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), and Tucson International Airport (TUS).
“We’ve heard from our customers that the ability to board with their assigned group is important to them because it’s a benefit associated with their fare purchase,” said Julie Rath, American’s Senior Vice President of Airport Operations, Reservations and Service Recovery. “The initial positive response from customers and team members has exceeded our expectations, so we are thrilled to leverage this technology ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.”
If a customer attempts to board before their assigned group is called, the new software will reject their boarding pass and produce an alert sound to indicate that the group has not yet been called. In such cases, someone from the team will ask the customer to go back to the line, press release continued.
Passengers traveling with a companion in an earlier boarding group can bypass the alert and board together. The airline has different boarding groups based on the type of ticket purchased.
According to the press release, the new platform provides team members with more insight into how many travelers are in each boarding group, which helps pace the boarding process. The system also shows the expected arrival time for incoming flight connections.
The carrier added that the software eliminates the need for the airline workers to use multiple applications during boarding by replacing them with one display.
In the coming months, American plans to use the technology at more than 100 airports in the US, including Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) during the upcoming holiday season.