Originally Posted by
joeyE
I'd say no. When I was a Gold in group 5, it was often on the hairy edge of getting my carry-on on vs being full. It's a pretty critical element of having status. With group 4....getting out of the terminal & onto the jetway before the gate lice rush started was a really nice benefit. The group separation is real and very valuable on each tier.
Yep. I was on some of the SFO-PHL Thursday evening 'consultant express' flights in 2019 and early 2020. Instead of Priority/Regular boarding it could have just been called Carry-On and Gate-Checked. If you weren't elite or in F, you weren't bringing a full-size carryon into the plane.
Any remotely full flight without the spacebins (and even some with them) will likely mean those without an AAdvantage number will have to gate-check their bags.