They are the nightmare of ground staff: the people who crowd the gate to be the first to board the plane. Now, measures are being introduced to address this.
Anyone who has ever flown knows what happens at the gate before boarding.
People try to bypass the line, crowding together to get through security early, board the plane first, and secure space in the overhead lockers for their carry-on bags. This creates chaos with the attendants having difficulty maintaining order.
Now it’s time to take action. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has highlighted the issues and inconvenience this behavior causes. IATA has described this behavior as equivalent to bypassing the boarding procedure itself.
To address this, American Airlines is testing a new technology to manage boarding lines and reduce congestion. The US company is one of the first in the world to try to solve the problem. If the testing phase were to be successful, this technology could be adopted by all other companies. Here’s how it works.
Technology against gate cheaters
The test phase is currently active at the airports of Albuquerque, Tucson and Washington. Passengers are divided into groups, and each group is called to the gate in turn.
This way, there is no queue and no chance that cheaters from a different group can board the plane early. If a passenger scans their boarding pass before their assigned group is called, an alarm sounds.
The computer will also display a warning message for the gate agents, who can then ask the pushy passenger to step aside until his group is called to board.
There are 10 groups in total, ranging from first class to economy. The groups board one at a time, avoiding lines and chaos at the gate. According to American Airlines, the initiative aims to ’enhance the boarding experience’ and ’ensure customers receive the benefits of priority boarding.’
If there is a valid reason, staff may allow passengers to board early.
Although still in its early stages, the testing phase appears to be effective. Gates with the group system active have no lines, and boarding is more streamlined, orderly and faster. People waiting for their group to be called can relax away from the gate and not stand in the spaces nearby.
An American Airlines spokesperson said: "We are in the early stages of testing the new technology used during the boarding process. The new technology is designed to make it easier for customers to enjoy the benefits of priority boarding and helps improve the boarding experience by providing greater visibility into boarding progress for our team."
If successful, this technology could be adopted by other airlines in the future.
Original article published on Money.it Italy 2024-11-09 16:15:00. Original title: Questa compagnia aerea sta prendendo provvedimenti contro chi si mette in fila troppo presto
