American Airlines Updates Boarding Groups: Good

Intro

Boarding processes in the USA have long been complicated, with airlines attempting to sell better boarding groups through Credit Cards, as well as making their own elite loyalists recognized. Well, American Airlines has just announced that it is updating how it will board its aircraft, and I love it.

The New Experience

As of May 1st, 2025, American Airlines will be making its boarding process much straightforward, and allowing passengers ticketed in Business/First Class to actually board as one of the first groups...

Well, what are the new requirements? They are as follows:

• Pre-boarding will now begin with Concierge Key members, followed by passengers ticketed in Business and First Class, as well as families with children under 2

• Group 1 will consist of Executive Platinum members and those with an active military US ID

• Group 2 will be Platinum Pro members and OW Emerald members

• Group 3 will be Platinum members and OW Sapphire

• Group 4 will consist of premium economy passengers, OW Ruby, and AA Gold members

• Group 5 will be for those seated in MCE, as well as credit card holders

• Group 6 will be for all other AAdvantage members

• Group 7-8 will include other (non-basic) economy passengers

• Group 9 will be the last group and for basic economy passengers

You can now be one of the First to board when in Domestic First...

In addition, American has announced that it will be boarding their narrowbody planes 5 minutes earlier than they currently do, in order to help maximize efficiency and relaxation for passengers. Thank the lord for this, as people can't seem to put a bag in an overhead bin to save their lives...

My Thoughts

As a whole, I am very impressed with American Airlines for doing this. However, in my unprofessional opinion, I believe that American is now allowing Business and First Class passengers to pre-board in order to help maximize paid premium cabins.

As someone who is 1K on United, I would be more than happy if United followed suit here, even if that meant losing the ability to pre-board. For me, it doesn't matter how much elite status you have (unless you are GS or CK), those paying for First/Business should get priority boarding over everyone else. In an ideal world, I would love to see American take 5 minutes between pre-boarding and group 1 to offer pre-departure beverages at the time, but I don't think that is going to come to fruition.

At least you won't have 100 people trying to pre-board a plane...

I admire the gumption of American Airlines here.

Final Thoughts

American Airlines has announced that as of May 1st, 2025, they will be implementing updated boarding groups going forward. Finally, we get to see Business/First Class passengers have the ability to board first, which is, in my opinion, exactly how it should be.