As anyone who has stood in the plane aisle with a heavy bag as the person in front of you takes forever to reorganize the overhead compartment will surely know, boarding early significantly improves one’s travel experience.
Knowing this, airlines dangle early boarding as a way to sell tickets of higher fare classes and a perk for travelers who earn status.
Most major airlines will organize the boarding process in groups so that travelers with disabilities and small children are invited to board first, followed by premium passengers and general passengers. The exact details, however, will vary from airline to airline.
On April 20, JetBlue Airways emailed some of its customers saying it was simplifying its boarding process to have eight instead of the previous 11 boarding groups.
JetBlue is changing its boarding process: here’s how
The changes go into effect on April 29 and have the following order: passengers with disabilities, Group 1 (those with the airline’s highest Mosaic 3 and 4 loyalty status), Group 2 (those with Mosaic 1 and 2 loyalty status), Group 3 (JetBlue credit card holders and those who paid for early boarding outside of a fare class), Group 4 (those traveling on a trip bought with JetBlue Vacations) and Groups 5 to 8 for the general public based on seat location.
Active military members and those who need extra assistance for a variety of reasons will also still be given courtesy boarding.
Related: Passengers are doing this sneaky thing to board flights early
JetBlue is classifying the reworked boarding groups as a way to “make boarding more intuitive, consistent, easier to follow along at the gate, and easier to hear and understand during boarding announcement.
“Customers are encouraged to remain comfortably seated until their group is called for boarding,” the airline writes further. “If you don’t see a group number on your boarding pass, please see a gate crew member.”
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Trying to board early? Airlines increasingly crack down on “gate lice”
JetBlue’s reminder to “remain comfortably seated” is a subtle dig, referencing the fact that many passengers will try to sneak in before their boarding zone or argue with the agent to let them board this one time.
People like these, in some corners of the internet, are pejoratively referred to as “gate lice.” Airlines have increasingly fought these attempts with policy changes and technology.
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Over the last year, American Airlines rolled out gate software that lets out a beep and, in some cases, blocks the door from opening when customers try to scan their ticket before their boarding group has been called.
To address the congestion that occurs when people in different parts of the aisle board first, United Airlines has also experimented with letting people with window seats enter before those sitting in the middle or the aisle.
Southwest Airlines, which for decades has been associated with its open seating policy, has in the last year made the risky transition of scrapping what made it stand out from competitors and boarding passengers according to fare, as do other airlines across the industry.
Related: What you can expect at Disney’s new ‘World of Frozen’
