When you approach a gate agent to board, they should take your boarding pass. If your group isn't called yet, they should simply say, "I'm sorry sir/ma'am, but we are not boarding your zone yet" and ask them to please step aside until their zone is called. That's it. Simple, pleasant, direct and takes 2 seconds. If the person argues, they should reiterate what they just said. If the person refuses to move, then security may need to get involved.

A gate agent should not make any presumptions about a passenger's zone/cabin until they see their boarding pass. If you find that the gate agent's attitude was unacceptable, you should write in to AA and provide the specific information to them. If this gate agent consistently does this, then she may get some re-training. If you don't say anything, nothing can be done.

It's a shame people have to start crowding around the door before boarding. It is all because of the limited overhead space for their over allowance carry on bags and no one wants to miss out on the space.

To give the guy some credit, there are usually so many people crowded around the gate that it is sometimes difficult to tell who will be where on the plane.
Plus if he was in a bulkhead, he may have a fight to get everything in an overhead bin remotely close to his seat (that's one thing I hate about getting an upgrade to a bulkhead).

When I left JNB a few weeks ago, there were staff guarding the seats for the BA JNB-LHR flight area. I doubt they were BA staff, more than likely contract, or even airport workers.
That said, they had a, "special," seating area for F/J/PE, and those with status.
It was kind of nice not having to fight your way through the line (like I did for LHR-JNB).

This would be very handy for some of the long-haul flights on AA.

Well, it's a question. I would just answer "yes" and move on.

I've had people ask me similarly when traveling with my 6 and 10 year olds. Multiple times. At check in, etc.

What's the big deal?

I think it's more the attitude and assumption rather than just looking at the BP and saying something if the OP wasn't priority.

I think someone is on an ego trip., if you fly up front very much and know it you show it.

I get that clueless people stand in the priority line. In fact, if the GA had asked the person in front of, or the one behind me the same question, this thread doesn't get started.

Sounds familiar. A couple of years ago, prior to the AA/US merger, my family was flying US out of BNA on a Saturday morning. At that time the boarding order was F, then families with small children, then everyone else. My daughter was still a lap child at the time.

When F was called, we moved to the podium, and were actually the first ones there. The guy behind us started hoarsely shouting, in a whiskey-and-cigarettes scarred voice, "It's First Class! You cain't board now! It's First Class! You got to wait!"

He continued ranting all the way down the jetbridge, letting us and the GA know exactly what he thought about the terrible breach in entitled elite etiquette. He didn't shut up until we got to our assigned F seats; then he suddenly got very quiet, and slunk past me to his seat two rows behind us.

It was an awesome experience

For awhile it seemed that GAs were making an effort to explain the boarding process before boarding and to make it clear that those boarding before called will be denied boarding. Now its becoming more and more of a free for all with GAs often just taking BPs as they come. Moreover, some of the worst offenders are F paxs that stand in the way blocking wheelchair boarding. Still, a GA has no right to question someone being in F until a BP is produced. If said BP reads Group 3 by all means pounce away on that pax.

Like PDBs what should be an easy thing to do gets gummed by employees not following procedure.

I've had that happen, but given the zoo that the gate area often becomes I never really made a big deal about it. Nod and board.

I think you're probably being a bit sensitive. If it happens frequently and you're the only person getting asked, then yes, maybe you have a right to be offended. Perhaps the GA decides that instead of asking everyone, they will randomly ask one person every flight in an attempt to police the priority boarding through random enforcement. Really, you don't know why he/she asked. Yes, perhaps she should just read the boarding pass first. Perhaps she could have handled it better. But that fact that you put "*me*" just sounds extremely pretentious

Would you be happier that she is overly aggressive in enforcement, or that she doesn't ask you AND lets everyone else board with you despite you paying that extra $500?

Have to admit I've been guilty of this.

Not because I assume anyone is not in first, but if they are standing 15 feet from the front of the priority boarding lane I don't always extend the courtesy of standing behind them...especially when there are 100 people crowded into the boarding area and/or I have a bulkhead seat in first.

If you're standing in the wrong place, and not a typical 1st class flyer (e.g. I rarely see families in 1st) I may cut in front of you. But if you call me on it and say you're in first I'll be apologetic and polite (but I may still ask you to move up so the rest of us have somewhere to stand).

I think the point is that asking doesn't accomplish anything that looking at the boarding pass doesn't also accomplish. However, singling out passengers based on their appearance or demeanor (which, realistically, is almost certainly the criterion the GA was using) risks offending them. Particularly if some aspect of their appearance makes this a frequent occurrence.

It does not seem common in my experience. Several hundred flights in the last few years, almost always dressed like a bum (I change into sweats / t-shirts to travel) -- never been questioned once by a gate agent.

As I said above, I'm not claiming there isn't a better way for the GA to accomplish whatever objective they had. Certainly just looking at the boarding pass would cover it.

That said, you actually have no idea why the GA singled the OP out. And I don't think the OP has shared anything about their demeanor, appearance, etc. Moreover, the OP hasn't stated that this happens frequently. It seems like if that was the case, the frequency would have been noted.

All these indignant replies are based on a story told from one perspective with limited details, with a lot of assumptions being made. It's not as though the GA said "Sir, are you sure you're priority? You don't look like you belong in First Class".