NEW YORK — American Airlines is testing a new technology at three airports across the country during the boarding process that aims to cut down on passengers who try to cut the line.
The technology, which is being tested at Albuquerque International Sunport Airport in New Mexico, Tucson International Airport in Arizona and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Crystal City, Virginia, alerts gate agents with an audible sound if a passenger tries to scan a ticket ahead of their assigned group.
"The new technology is designed to ensure customers receive the benefits of priority boarding with ease and helps improve the boarding experience by providing greater visibility into boarding progress for our team," American Airlines said in a statement.
FILE - An American Airlines jetliner rumbles down a runway at Denver International Airport, Jan. 16, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
American Airlines said a gate agent politely lets the customer know they're unable to accept the pass and asks the customer to rejoin the line when their boarding group is called.
People are also reading…
In some instances where a customer may be able to board out of order, like when traveling with a companion of higher status, the agent has a quick way to override the alert and accept the pass, American Airlines said in the statement.
Though the technology is just in a trial phase, the airline said it was pleased with the results so far.
Top 10 safest airlines to fly on in 2024
Top 10 safest airlines to fly on in 2024
The U.S. airline industry is facing questions about safety after a string of concerning events this year.
The most notorious occurred on Jan. 5, when a door plug blew out of a Boeing 737 Max 9 plane midair on an Alaska Airlines flight. Even though the plane landed safely and no one was injured, the incident caused concern about the , leading other airlines like United Airlines to also ground their fleet during the fallout. A month later, after undergoing Federal Aviation Administration inspections, were back in service.
Airlines to the National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates each occurrence and recommends that the FAA bolster safety. (Data about these incidents, once reported to government agencies, is .) The NTSB is still investigating the Jan. 5 episode, which included a two-day hearing in early August 2024.
However, January was only the beginning of airline safety concerns this year. In March, and then again in July, two separate United Airlines planes and had to make emergency landings. In April, another United flight skidded off the runway. In response, the FAA pledged to increase oversight over United.
These incidents have left some travelers wondering about the safety of U.S. airlines or flying in general. In March 2024, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said data shows flight safety has gotten better, and flying in the U.S. is .
To find out which U.S. airlines have the best and worst safety records, looked at on this year's best airlines and narrowed the data to the safety section of the study, which looked at two metrics from 2018 to 2023: 1) the number of fatal injuries in aviation accidents and 2) the number of injuries in aviation incidents and accidents. The 10 national airlines studied were then ranked from least to most safe. The maximum score an airline can achieve is 35 points.
Read on to see how your airline of choice—and its competitors—rank.
You may also like:
#9. United Airlines
- Safety score: 20
In March 2024, the FAA said it was bumping up oversight of United after those aforementioned incidents involving wheels and tires lost and skidding off runways. That oversight and required the FAA to be present during inspections of new planes to replace old ones in the airline's fleet. United's CEO, Scott Kirby, has on safety and review its policies. As of mid-May 2024, the FAA cleared the airline once again.
#8. Hawaiian Airlines
- Safety score: 21.73
As of Aug. 9, the NTSB hasn't had to investigate any incidents aboard Hawaiian Airlines flights so far this year. In fact, Hawaiian Airlines is also the nation's oldest carrier that's in its 95-year history. However, Hawaiian is also quite a bit smaller than other stateside airlines. It , most of which are leaving from or arriving in Hawai'i. For comparison, other major U.S. carriers manage upwards of 4,000 flights per day.
#7. JetBlue
- Safety score: 23.06
As of early August 2024, the only event the NTSB has had to investigate this year was a February accident wherein a JetBlue plane collided with another aircraft on the ground while it was getting in place to deice. No one was injured. In 2023, JetBlue reported three nonserious events to the NTSB and two additional accidents that did involve serious injury, which are still under investigation.
#6. Delta Air Lines
- Safety score: 23.89
Delta Air Lines operates at high volume—about 4,000 flights daily and 190 million customers in 2023. As of Aug. 9, the airline has reported four serious accidents to the NTSB this year so far. In late June, the , including an engine catching fire shortly after takeoff. No one was hurt in those cases.
You may also like:
#5. American Airlines
- Safety score: 23.98
Even though the FAA closely monitored United earlier this year, a union for American Airlines pilots that scrutiny could have easily been for their airline. The union said it noticed "a significant spike in safety- and maintenance-related problems." In terms of incidents involving an NTSB investigation, American has only had one serious occurrence in 2024 as of early August.
#3. Frontier Airlines
- Safety score: 29.94
Colorado-based Frontier Airlines is more similar in size to Hawaiian than the major U.S. airlines like American, Delta, and United. It operates about 500 flights per day and, as of early August, hasn't reported any incidents to the NTBS yet this year. It also didn't have any events in 2022. Its only report in the past two years came in March 2023, when rough air resulted in a flight attendant falling and breaking their hip.
#2. Alaska Airlines
- Safety score: 32.04
Alaska Airlines may have had the most infamous airline safety issue of the year, in which a door plug flew off midflight, but much of came to airplane manufacturer, Boeing. That was Alaska Airlines' only incident this year, according to the NTSB. Despite the frightening situation, it has one of the highest ratings for airline safety. In 's annual report, Alaska was the only U.S. airline to rank in the top 10 for and .
