By KBC Associate 
First-class and business-class passengers will board a tad earlier on American Airlines flights starting next month.
On Wednesday, the Fort Worth-based carrier announced it’s making some tweaks to its boarding procedures in hopes of speeding things up and streamlining the preflight process.
The changes take effect May 1.
Bargain hunting: When is the best time to book flights for the cheapest airfare?
Under the updated boarding order, passengers with a first- or business-class ticket will be invited to preboard ahead of the formal group boarding. That privilege will continue for flyers with the carrier’s invitation-only ConciergeKey designation. Travelers who need a bit more time to board — including families with children under the age of 2 — will be allowed on board early, too.
From there, things look fairly similar to what the airline offers today, with priority group access awarded to AAdvantage and Oneworld alliance elite status members, and travelers with certain cobranded American credit cards.
American Airlines boarding groups
Here’s how American Airlines’ new boarding groups will shake out:
| Boarding group | Passengers invited to board |
|---|---|
| Preboard |
|
| Group 1 |
|
| Group 2 |
|
| Group 3 |
|
| Group 4 | |
| Group 5 |
|
| Group 6 | AAdvantage members |
| Group 7 | Main cabin |
| Group 8 | Main cabin |
| Group 9 | Basic economy passengers who don’t meet any of the above criteria |
Thinning out Group 1
The biggest change American made was to shift premium-cabin passengers into preboarding from their current Group 1 boarding slot, where they board alongside top-tier Executive Platinum members.
Group 1 — despite its priority designation — can be a heavily packed boarding group, particularly at major American hubs like Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) and Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT), where there is a large number of elite status customers.
Daily Newsletter
Reward your inbox with the TPG Daily newsletter
Join over 700,000 readers for breaking news, in-depth guides and exclusive deals from TPG’s experts
The carrier hopes the updated boarding procedures will lead to a “better-paced boarding process” when combined with a host of other boarding-related changes that are also set to start on May 1.
Read more: Citi / AAdvantage Executive World Elite Mastercard review: Complimentary Admirals Club membership
A host of other boarding-related changes
In February, the carrier announced it would bump up the boarding times for flights on certain narrow-body aircraft. Boarding now begins 35 minutes prior to departure for flights operated with an Airbus A319 or A320 aircraft. Flights with a larger Boeing 737 or A321 aircraft will see boarding begin 40 minutes before takeoff.
The carrier already boards flights on its wide-body Boeing 777 and 787 jets even earlier — 50 minutes before the scheduled departure time.
Software banning line-cutters expands
Last fall, American also rolled out new software aimed at preventing passengers from boarding before the gate agent calls their group with an audible “beep” that would prompt the gate agent to tell the customer to step aside and wait for their group to be called up.
That program is now widely available at airports American flies from, the carrier said Wednesday, and in place to cover around 90% of its customers on any given day.
Early feedback, the airline said, has been “overwhelmingly positive.”
Related reading: