Imagine a future where you board an American Airlines flight without a gate agent scanning a boarding pass.
That could be your reality during your next trip at DFW International Airport, where the Fort Worth-based carrier is testing electronic boarding gates. The gates are being piloted on certain mainline domestic flights departing from gate A13 at DFW Airport, the airline’s central hub.
Video footage provided by American showed how the electronic gates work. Customers approach the gates and scan their boarding pass for their assigned flight and the gates open, allowing them to proceed to the jet bridge. The gates are designed to pace the boarding process for better flow on the jet bridge and streamline tasks for airline employees, the airline said.
The gates, American said, are the latest in a series of investments the airline has made to streamline its boarding procedures. In May, American added five additional minutes to boarding time and rolled out updated boarding groups. The airline said the changes improved on-time departures and reduced gate-checked bags by 25%.
E-gates are becoming increasingly common at major airports. The Transportation Security Administration and CLEAR continue to expand their technology at security checkpoints. CLEAR’s biometric gates were recently rolled out at Dallas Love Field, the headquarters of Southwest Airlines.
“We know the boarding process has a meaningful impact on our customers’ overall experience with us and we’re excited for our DFW team and customers to be the first in our system to test the efficiency of the new technology,” Jim Moses, American’s senior vice president of DFW operations, said in a statement. “While we are always looking for innovative tools to improve the customer experience, our team members are the driving force behind our customer-first culture in every interaction along the travel journey.”
