The only reason to board first rather than last is overhead bin space. If you’re worried about bins filling up, and being forced to gate check your bag, you want onto the aircraft before some of the other passengers. You don’t have to outrun the bear, you just have to outrun other people on the plane.

People queue up to board. They rush the gate. They try to board long before it’s their turn, even though they’ll be fine with overhead space usually unless they’re among the last on the plane.

Airlines made this game. They can’t do simple back-to-front boarding because they sell priority boarding, sell first class, and reward customers with status.

Passengers crowding the gate and the boarding lines before it’s their turn, when their boarding group is called, makes for a more chaotic process. And American Airlines is doing something about it. Gate agents are busy and don’t always look at boarding groups when people scan their boarding passes. This is simple, yet genius.

• American Airlines started to enforce boarding groups over the past couple of weeks at two airports – Albuquerque and Tucson – in a trial.

• Passengers scanning their boarding pass before their group number is called will be met with an audible tone.

• Gate agents then ask the passenger to step the side until their group is called.

• With feedback strongly positive (and also, not slowing down the boarding process) they’re going to be rolling this out to Washington’s National airport next in the coming weeks.

According to an American Airlines spokesperson,

We are in the early phase of testing new technology used during the boarding process. 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.

It is still possible to board with a boarding pass that has a group number which hasn’t been called yet. For instance, if my wife and I are on separate reservations and she has a later boarding group number (due to lower status with the airline), we might both board together in group 1.

You might tell the agent before scanning that you’re boarding early, or explain after the tone. The gate agent can clear the flag on their screen and allow you to board.

I generally like this, although I worry about agents having the discretion on whether to make an exception – you’ll get some who refuse to do it when they should. But overall it seems positive, because once passengers start seeing early boarders rejected, they’ll learn to stop doing it.

Already I like American Airlines boarding best. They have a priority lane and a general boarding line. Passengers are called to come to their respective line when it is their group’s turn to board. No one has to stand there like with United’s boarding queues where passengers line up in their assigned group, with each group having a different area (airport and gate-allowing) far in advance of boarding.

United Airlines Boarding

If you’re in group 1 you may be at the back of a line that snakes around the gate area even queueing prior to the start of boarding. If you’re in group 3-5 you may wind up without overhead bin space unless you line up 15 minutes before the start of boarding. That’s as much of a waste of time as Southwest’s boarding where you stand up 30 minutes prior to departure in order to get the best seat, at least until they move to assigned seating.

Some influencers say just board with group one, most agents don’t check your boarding group anyway. I’ve said this bothers me. You aren’t entitled to it. In some sense you’re stealing from the airline and from other passengers, though the boarding game itself is a bit absurdist. I don’t recommend this.

A process where passengers have an assigned time to come up to the gate to board, and can come up at that time or later only, and don’t try to crowd the process really does seem like the most civilized approach.