The American airline is finally doing something to prevent gate queues from being cut

Early boarding is a coveted privilege.

AAmerican Airlines is Testing new technologies This reportedly improves enforcement of boarding order The Washington Post. The technology creates an audible sound each time a passenger attempts to board before their group is called, alerting agents to ask the passenger to move out of the boarding order until it is their turn.

The airline currently carries passengers in nine groups, starting with first-class passengers and high-end frequent flyers, and splits the rest by seat upgrades, credit card holders, passengers who pay extra for priority boarding and others. Passengers who purchased American's complimentary Basic Economy fare in Group 9.

Most other airlines follow the same procedure, and many airlines – including American – are dogged by passengers who don't know the boarding order or don't follow it. This creates congestion in the gate area and on board the aircraft and reduces the benefit of priority boarding for passengers who have paid for it or earned it through frequent flights.

Early boarding is a coveted privilege because it is more convenient to board early, before the overhead bins above the plane are filled with carry-on luggage and already seated passengers are asked to move so that later arriving passengers can take their seats. On crowded flights, late boarding passengers often cannot find space for their hand luggage and have to be checked at the gate, causing delays in the arrival of passengers who now have to wait for their luggage to arrive at the baggage carousel.

“We are in the early stages of testing new technologies that will be used during the boarding process,” American said The Washington Post. “The new technology is designed to ensure customers can easily take advantage of the benefits of priority boarding and will help improve the boarding experience by giving our team greater insight into boarding progress.”

American is testing the technology at airports in Albuquerque and Tucson and will soon expand it to Reagan National Airport in Washington DC and other airports throughout the system.

Previously, airlines could enforce boarding order by having passengers hand paper boarding passes to an agent to board. Agents could check the group number or seat assignment to verify if a passenger is boarding early. With the proliferation of boarding passes on mobile devices that passengers self-scan, travel agents don't have time to turn away passengers before they can scan their device. After scanning, passengers should proceed to boarding to allow for a correct boarding count.

The new system will not only play an audible alarm to alert the agent that a passenger is attempting to board early, but it will also reject the boarding pass from boarding and inform the agent which group the passenger should board with. This system is already common in Europe, where many airlines use automated gates similar to those in U.S. mass transit systems. At Oslo Airport, for example, boarding passes are not scanned to open an automatic gate when a passenger tries to board early, while an automatic message is displayed advising them to wait their turn.

Airlines have long been looking for ways to manage the boarding process, one of the most stressful points of the journey for modern air travelers. Previous jets boarded First Class and Economy Class via two separate staircases at the back and front of the aircraft, but as flights continued following deregulation in 1978 (when airfares fell to levels affordable for the vast majority of travelers was) and planes became more and more crowded. Since boarding only took place from front doors via jet bridges, a bottleneck arose.

Airlines used to do the process in a row, from the back of the plane to the front. But as frequent flyer programs became more complicated and added fees on top of fares became more complex, they needed a way to stratify passengers by status. Airlines now essentially board passengers in order of importance, although many make exceptions and allow families, passengers with disabilities and active military personnel to board first, regardless of which group they are assigned to.

American's new system could ease frustration among travelers over those who try to skirt the rules and board early, and that could make travel easier for everyone — except those who try to break the rules.