After years of showing that relying on an honor system isn’t effective for airplane boarding, American Airlines is trialing a new method aimed at ensuring passengers board according to their designated groups.

A user on Reddit shared their recent experience while departing from Albuquerque, where they observed a change in the boarding process.

In their post, they mentioned, “As was typical, group 1 was crowded, but when several ahead of me tried to scan their boarding passes, an error beep went off. The gate agent then informed them, ‘sir/madam, you are in group 5, please step aside.’ It was great to see this enforcement and it seemed to be driven by the system rather than the gate agent’s discretion.”

American Airlines confirmed to YSL News that they are indeed testing a new system to enforce boarding group compliance.

A spokesperson for the airline stated, “We are in the initial phase of testing new technology for the boarding process. This technology aims to help customers enjoy their priority boarding privileges more easily while enhancing the overall boarding experience by giving our team better visibility on the boarding progress.”

This trial has been underway in Albuquerque and Tucson for a few weeks, with plans for expansion to additional airports, including Washington Reagan National Airport.

Is airplane boarding efficient?

Airlines strive for an efficient boarding process since prolonged ground time means decreased profitability. However, experts consistently demonstrate that boarding remains quite inefficient, despite the airlines’ efforts.

Contrary to popular opinion, loading from back to front is not the best approach. Research shows that the most efficient way to board a plane, known as the Steffen Method, organizes passengers into six groups based on their seat locations. However, even its creator admits it’s impractical for actual boarding situations.

“Implementing it isn’t necessarily straightforward. I focused on finding what’s fastest, not what’s easy,” said astrophysicist Jason Steffen, now an associate professor of physics at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He added, “There are challenges involved, like requiring everyone to line up in a specific sequence. While this is a solvable issue, it does come with costs.”

Steffen suggested that random boarding could be a better alternative.

However, travelers might not appreciate this method either. While many prefer some sense of order, they also want to board quickly to secure space in the overhead compartments.

Only time will reveal whether American Airlines’ new system can create a more organized and enjoyable boarding experience for passengers. However, an airline spokesperson mentioned that the initial results have been promising.

(This article has been updated to amend a typographical error.)