Gate Lice, which is considered a pejorative term, is used to describe the crowd of flight passengers who strive to board their flight first ahead of everyone.
They gather in front of the boarding gates much earlier than their designated time. Moreover, they do not board with their group. This makes the boarding process unmanageable for the staff as well as for the passengers who are supposed to be boarding early. This issue is very common among frequent flyers and things often get heated up between passengers.
American Airlines has now come up with a new platform to prevent Gate Lice. They aim for a more structured boarding process with which the staff do not struggle.
How American Airlines will prevent Gate Lice?
American Airlines has come up with a platform that would not allow early boarding for Gate Lice. If a passenger tries to board with a different group, the system will beep while scanning their boarding pass. It will show the gate agent the passenger's group number and the former will ask them to wait for their group.
Speaking with USA TODAY, Rachel Warner, a spokesperson for the airline, said that they always look for an easier boarding experience for their staff and passengers. Warner also said a team member has to do a lot at the gate with the people who try to board the flight early. She added,
"It's a privilege that comes with where (a customer) may be sitting on the plane, or with their advantage status, or if they're a credit card holder. We want to make sure that our customers are getting the opportunity to board in the order in which they should."
Per Warner, the platform is currently being tested at (Albuquerque International Sunport (ABQ), Tucson International Airport (TUS), and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA). She also confirmed that the testing went well at ABQ and TUS.
Passengers who happened to experience the new platform are seemingly satisfied with it. On Reddit, a user shared that the Gate Lice were asked to step aside when another group was supposed to be boarding. The user wrote,
"As usual, group 1 was flooded with people but several people ahead of me when trying to scan their boarding pass got an error beep. The gate agent proceeded to tell them “sir/mamm you are group 5, please step aside”. Was awesome to see this enforced and looked like it was system driven vs gate agent having to make that call."
Netizens on several other platforms appreciated the system.
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Many also hoped that the system would be rolled out everywhere for a smoother boarding process.
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