Originally Posted by UAzip

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AA's group numbers changed a little while back. Old Group 1 became Group 5. Groups like ExPlat, First Class, etc. that were boarded before Group 1 are now groups with numbers 1-4. More fine-grained, but doesn't allow queuing in chutes far ahead unless there were 9 chutes. Credit cards on AA used to be Group 1 but are now Group 5, still "Priority boarding" but explaining that Group 5 is priority is a little weird. Groups 1-4 do not necessarily have tons of people on each flight, but some do have tons. Equivalent on UA would be like moving Global Services to its own group number and shifting all the other numbers downward.