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I got an email from American Airlines today that they are changing the way they board their planes, starting March 1st.  Thankfully it doesn’t appear to be anything too drastic – more a general tweaking.

Rather than their current process, which runs through the various elite levels, premium cabin passengers and then to the general public, they are moving to a system where everybody gets a number.

You can see the full boarding order / process here.

  • Preboarding – ConciergeKey members
  • Group 1 – First Class, Active duty U.S. military with military I.D., (Business Class on a 2-class international aircraft)
  • Group 2 – Executive Platinum, oneworld Emeralds, (Business Class on a 3-class aircraft)
  • Group 3 – Platinum Pro, Platinum, oneworld Sapphire
  • Group 4 – Gold, oneworld Ruby, Alaska Airlines MVP® members, AirPass, Premium Economy, Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive cardmembers, Customers who bought Priority boarding
  • Group 5 – Main Cabin Extra, Eligible AAdvantage® credit cardmembers, Eligible corporate travelers
  • Group 6 –
  • Group 7 –
  • Group 8 –
  • Group 9 – includes Basic Economy flights

So, those of us with Citi AAdvantage cards will continue to board essentially where we used to board, as the first people to board through the “main” lane.

I’m interested to see how this works in practice, since at least in non-hub outposts like I typically fly from, all the boarding groups tend to get lumped together…

Where will you board under the new American boarding order?


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BoardingArea