GUIDE: AA Boarding Priority, Order and Related Issues (as of 2018)
 

Guide to AA Boarding Priority, Order and Times including minimum gate arrival time to board.

Shown in boarding pass sample from Antarius (post no. 70).

Thank you for contacting AAdvantage® Customer Service.

We have great news! Your boarding priority as an AAdvantage Gold member
has not changed. We are very sorry if our recent enhancements have
caused you any concern.

All passengers are boarding in the exact same order you've become
accustomed to. We?ve simply added a group number to our premium cabin
and elite passengers who didn?t have one before. Rather than calling a
long list of eligible passengers to board, all passengers have now been
assigned a group number. We anticipate this change will simplify the
boarding process and reduce confusion at the gate.

We are thrilled at the prospect of making your travel experience more
pleasant. We appreciate your loyalty and look forward to welcoming you
aboard soon.

Finally, let me say how much we appreciate your business as an
AAdvantage Gold member. Thanks!

Regards,

Jana G.
AAdvantage Customer Service
American Airlines

My response.....

I'm sorry but this simply is not true. During the old boarding process
Gold elite members boarded before credit card holders and elites from
other airlines like Alaska MVP. Under the new boarding order the Gold
elite members may be listed on the chart above these groups they are
both listed as "Group 4" so unless the gate agent is going to announce
"Gold Group 4 members" before the other "Group 4" passengers then it
lumps them all together as simply "Group 4".

Second AA response.......

Dear Daniel,

First, on behalf of all of us here at AAdvantage Customer Service, thank
you for being one of our valued AAdvantage Gold members.

We've found that we best solve these issues via conversation. To that
end, I tried to call you today at XXX-XXX-XXXX around 9:35am Central
Time, but I was unable to reach you.

So that we can speak with you directly and address your concerns, please
call AAdvantage Customer Service at 888-697-5636. We're open Monday
through Friday from 8:00-7:00 Central Time and any representative will
be happy to assist you.

Outside the United States and Canada, please visit www.aa.com/phones to
find the telephone number in your country or refer to the bottom of this
website for instructions on how to call our United States telephone
number.

Have a good day!

Regards,

Jana G.
AAdvantage Customer Service
American Airlines

Waiting for my delayed flight in DCA and just got to watch them change out the new boarding lane signs. (Phone posting so sorry in advance if this is huge)

Wow; that signage is actually very clear. Maybe this will even be simple enough so that most passengers understand what's happening! ^

Last month I was boarding a flight when they called for first class. A couple next to me said "oh, its priority boarding, that's us". I glanced at their ticket and they had paid for priority boarding, economy class and no status. With the new system, they'll board in group 4 which is an easy to understand number compared to "priority" when there's an entire lane dedicated to "priority". I don't see how this new system is a negative for anyone except Citi/Barclay who went from selling Group 1 to Group 5 for $95 a year.

Actually Plat's now are behind EXP, as opposed to being officially in the same boarding group prior to this day.

So glad this day is here where I no longer have to push and shove with Plats boarding with EXP's.

I wish the signage had arrows or text like "Left Lane" and "Right Lane" on it. I don't know why, but it doesn't seem clear to non-frequent travelers that there are actually two lanes.

I think that actually already changed on January 1st, Plat Pro was introduces and PLT is grouped with them, while EXP was grouped with business class. Still a nice change though.

This was a mess this morning at SAN. Everyone who checked in yesterday has the old group numbers so about a quarter of the plane boarded when Group 1 was called. Then Group 2 was skipped and they went straight to Group 3 so EXP who actually followed the order got shafted. Eventually it may be an improvement but so far the rollout has been less than impressive. And hopefully training can be provided to the gate agents on how to count to 10.

CLT-DCA
 

first time caller, long time stalker..

just now at CLT they called preboarding for CK, then first & military, then groups 1-4 at the same time!

that's about half the plane..

not sure how calling groups 1-4 at same time is going to make boarding easier, but certainly makes it simpler for GAs

So for those hoping for higher tier (groups 1-3) separation.. that's not what I just experienced.

It seems like this is only going to be a problem for a day or two. I'm flying out later today, when I checked in last night my boarding pass said PLT in the corner. I was curious, so I went back and looked again today, now it says group 3.

Hopefully this is only one or two days of chaos... in hopes for the better long term solution.

That seems to me like the definition of a first-day glitch, not a cause for concern (if annoying today). After today, there won't be anyone with boarding passes printed before today (duh), so the group numbers should be correct.

That's a bit concerning, though they already do that sometimes. With flights on small planes with few elites, it even makes sense; no need to call nine different groups on a 50-seater (about 5 passengers per group, on average, if evenly distributed)! But this problem isn't restricted to 50-seaters.

I recommend an electrified fence!

Originally Posted by chewyinla--It seems like this is only going to be a problem for a day or two. I'm flying out later today, when I checked in last night my boarding pass said PLT in the corner. I was curious, so I went back and looked again today, now it says group 3.
Hopefully this is only one or two days of chaos... in hopes for the better long term solution.

Same here--"P" last night, "Group 3" tomorrow morning. Should be fun.