I think AA made good strides to try and get some order in the boarding process to going with group numbers vice all the other call-outs before group 1.
Some enforcement, of this process would also be welcome to me. I flew a short haul domestic flight last week that had 12 independent CK members (not any two people traveling together) on it. They all used their cell phones to check in. I was amazed that there were so many CK on this flight.
I was even more amazed that when I got to my upgraded seat in First Class as a Gold (that I received electronically while at the gate), that I was the first person to sit in FC while all the CK members were sitting in the back of the plane
Even more amazed on this flight that 2 of the FC seats were unoccupied while all the CK's were in the back of the plane.
AA encourages the use of the app for check in so they can save a fraction of a penny on printing out a boarding pass, but how are GA to enforce this if they even wanted to without AA fixing their software to only allow boarding for the group being called? As a long time AA traveler it does seem it has always been "mostly" on the honor system when it comes to boarding order.
This is a "first world" problem for sure, but I am not looking to cut the line in front of me, I prefer no one does the same to me. But the current system of folks using their cell phone to check in, not only slows down the boarding process but encourages bad behavior and prevents the GA from being able to enforce the order without slowing it down even more.