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This was an interesting conversation I saw online the other day – the question is if boarding groups even matter anymore.

Although each airline has their own process (here’s the updated list), we all know how boarding groups work. Your boarding pass will have a group number that corresponds to when you’re allowed to board the plane. How low your group number is depends on a variety of things – if you have status (and what kind), whether or not you’re active military, the type of ticket you bought, etc.

For years, people have lamented about “gate lice.” We’ve gone over why Americans crowd the gate so much, and frankly, save for gate attendants telling them to sit down and wait their turn, there probably isn’t much that’s going to get done about it. “Americans gonna American,” y’know?

But apparently, there’s an even bigger issue afoot. Instead of crowding the gate, some particularly brazen flyers simply get on board whenever they want, regardless of what their boarding group is. Here’s how it was described on Reddit the other day:

Do Boarding Zones even matter?

Is it me or does AA not enforce boarding zones? I swear I have seen nearly 1/3 plane walk up on Zone 1 boarding and it baffles me.

Based on some of the responses (heads up; some of them are NSFW due to adult language), it sounds as if it’s not just limited to whichever airport they were in:

• Saw this happen in Tampa a few times as well as another announcement saying “only group 1 please look at your boarding pass before coming up” — Infinite_Twist_9786
• AA gate agents at ORD does not enforce boarding zones. It’s really annoying. I saw a lady had a group 7 boarding assignment on her boarding pass and was able to board with group 3. The agent didn’t say s**t. — smashdemo11
• I was in Chicago 2 days ago and someone in group 8 boarded with group 1. — randomguy9731
• I was zone 1 a couple weeks ago in DFW and there were so many non zone 1 people lined up and then pushed forward when zone 1 was called and not a word from the gate agent. They just kept calling zones. I was finally able to board when they were calling 4. What’s the point when no one respects or enforces the zones. — manderskt

It also brings up an important point about those who have paid for the privilege of boarding earlier:

• I was just discussing this with my friend and this is the solution we came up with. What’s really bogus too is AA makes you pay extra IF you want to board early, but then they disregard the hierarchy come boarding time. — smashdemo11
• I think that’s a consumer protection issue. It is selling a product and then not delivering the benefit. Someone get a class action going! lol — counterpointguy

Happily, some people reported a different response from gate agents they’ve encountered:

• I saw a GA send two people to the back in CLT the other day. I hope to see more of this. — betasp
• Was leaving New Orleans last night, and the gate agent there absolutely enforced it! She very loudly let you and everyone around you know you were in the wrong group and to step aside. — Seinne799
• I flew from LAX to HNL on Sunday and the gate agent turned away people trying to board from group 2 when group 1 was boarding. They were also paying closer attention to oversized roller bags. But often it does seem to be a free for all. —  ElderBerry2020

Some people had some suggestions for how to make the system truly work:

• The only way to make this work is to code the system’s software so that people’s boarding pass won’t work until their zone is called. Force the issue and train people that cutting line doesn’t work. – anonymous

And then there was the various explanations as to why this is happening:

• I flew AA and DL back to back last week and it does seem like AA does not enforce boarding zones. I also think a contributing factor is that there is no signage to indicate which zone is currently boarding. DL at least puts the current zone on the screen in big font with different colors matching the boarding passes, making it less likely that people “just get on” the plane and instead follow the order. — golfzerodelta
• A GA (gate agent) posted an AMA (“Reddit for “Ask me Anything”) the other day and said they don’t like to enforce boarding groups so they just let people do whatever they want. All they care about (and that the company evaluates them on) is closing the door as fast as possible so they view enforcing the rules as just slowing them down and therefore not their job. —  duplico
• Don’t hate the player, hate the game. As an employee, I’m going to focus on the things that make my job review look better (turn times), not actively sabotage my chance for a better review by producing slower turn times, even if it’s enforcing my own company’s rules. This is a management problem for not incentivizing the GA’s to enforce boarding groups. — _Dakonia_
• Enforcing boarding zones invites confrontation and wastes time. The gate agents care only about launching that aircraft on time. Whether or not you have overhead space for your over-sized “carry-on” is irrelevant. — Thunderbird_12_

What we think about it

That last part – getting the plane out of the gate on time – THAT’S the rub. Of course, taking off on time is super important to all the airlines (well, except when it isn’t. That’s an OK reason for an airline to delay a plane for an hour). In which case, the hell with all sense of following expected order? And, in reading between the lines, it saves the GA from the potential of altercation because it avoids limit setting someone who has Group 7 but tries to get in with Group 2.

Of course, in a perfect world, people wouldn’t have this ever-growing sense of entitlement. And they would follow the rules, too. Then again, in that same perfect world, American Airlines would show more of the regard they say they have for their loyal clients who have earned (or even paid for) status.

This is not a perfect world.

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