American Airlines Now Shaming Line Jumpers with new Technology

If you’re someone who doesn’t like to wait when it comes to boarding an airplane, it’s not your lucky day now that American Airlines has announced a new system which will flag passengers trying to board early.

This new feature is great if one of your biggest pet peeves is having people skip you when boarding a plane because with this new technology, everyone will know when skipping is attempted.

American Airlines has been testing a new system, in Albuquerque and Tucson, that will flag people who attempt to board before their group has been called.

There will be an audible alert when their boarding pass is scanned which will lead the gate agent to tell the passenger to step aside until their zone is called.

American Airlines says the purpose of this new feature is to “ensure customers receive the benefits of priority boarding” and “help improve the boarding experience by providing greater visibility into boarding progress.”

But also, it’s to shame line-jumpers (which apparently airline employees call “gate lice”)!

So far, American Airlines says they’ve been pleased with the test and so have travelers.

One person on social media said, “I saw this in action yesterday. It was great. I saw about five people get punted out of line for trying to board before their group was called. About time!”

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.