American Airlines is testing a new system to humiliate “gate lice,” the people who try to board planes before their seat section is called

Whatever the reason, American Airlines wants you to avoid it. The airline is testing new technology to alert passengers and gate agents if someone tries to board before their seat section is called. According to the airline, the system will generate an “acoustic signal” if a passenger attempts to board the aircraft before their seating group is announced. At that point, an alerted gate agent would send the passenger back to their appropriate group.

“The new technology is designed to ensure customers can easily take advantage of priority boarding benefits and helps improve the boarding experience by giving our team more insight into boarding progress,” American Airlines said Assets in a statement.

The new technology is being tested at Albuquerque International Sunport in New Mexico, Tucson International Airport in Arizona and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Virginia.

“Gate lice” have long been a nuisance of flight attendants, who find premature gate swarming behavior annoying and rude.

“Just stay as far away from the boarding area as possible until your group is at least close to being called off,” says Rich Henderson, a 10-year flight attendant and co-founder of the Two boys on a plane Blog, tells Business Insider. “If our frequent flyers and top performers aren’t even close to getting on the plane and your crew isn’t even close to getting on the plane, you really have no business standing right at the gate.”

The itchy origin of gate lice

Let's be honest: who among us hasn't tried to sneak into the Group 5 boarding queue even though our boarding pass has a humble “9” stamped on it? According to Ben Mutzabaugh, senior aviation content editor at Travel Blog, the gate lice problem ultimately grew out of a practical problem The Points type. In the late 2000s, after airlines increased checked baggage fees, more passengers are likely to bring carry-on luggage that they want to stash while also looking forward to avoiding the dreaded baggage claim. As more and more carry-on luggage is carried, overhead luggage storage has become more and more popular. Nobody wants to be the first passenger to check their luggage at the gate.

“When that became the new normal and people understood that it was a reality, it caused a lot of anxiety among players to try to get on the plane early,” he said Assets.

The pent-up fear of airlines could escalate into an aviation nightmare. The Federal Aviation Administration has referred 43 unruly passengers to the FBI this year alone, with the regulator referring 310 of the most serious cases – which may involve attacks on flight attendants or passengers – to the FBI since 2021.

The risk of encountering belligerent or at least grouchy travelers is one reason why using a kiosk to call out or humiliate backstabbing passengers is a smart strategy, Mutzabaugh said, since it saves gate agents the miserable job of tracking down passengers to speak up.

“You can be mad at the machine, but that's probably better than being mad at the gate agent,” he said.

Anecdotally, Mutzabaugh has heard that compared to other airlines, American is generally more organized than competitors when it comes to boarding, although some airports are notoriously chaotic. Every few years there are rules and systems in place to calm the chaos, he said, and the perfect entry method remains elusive. But since American Airlines said it was pleased with the new system's early results, there was no reason why other airlines shouldn't follow American's lead, Mutzabaugh argued.

“A little order goes a long way these days,” he said.