American Airlines passenger claims to witness 'gate lice' crackdown ahead of boarding

American Airlines appears to be keeping its promise of not letting pesky "gate lice" passengers board a plane before it's their turn.

The recent flyer, writing on the subreddit thread r/americanairlines, applauds a gate agent at the Pensacola, Florida, airport who strongly enforced the correct boarding zone.

"A wonderful gate agent this morning at PNS was actively turning away folks from boarding whose zones had not been called," the Reddit user wrote.

"The flustered and angry zone 9 passenger attempting to board with zone 5 was a hoot," the user added.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Reddit user for comment.

American Airlines has been working on this preventable problem by experimenting with technology that notifies gate agents about flight passengers boarding outside their zone.

"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," an American Airlines spokesperson previously told Fox News Digital.

Fox News Digital reached out to American Airlines for additional comment.

The technology "provides team members with more insight into the number of customers in each boarding group" and "displays anticipated arrival time for incoming flight connections," according to the airline's site.

The airline has actively been calling out flight passengers who are jumping ahead in line and boarding prior to their correct zones.

"Sounds like AA has been enforcing it more and more of late. This is at least the 5th post [I've] seen about this over the past few months," another Reddit user commented in the thread.

"They have been announcing it before the boarding that they have 'upgraded' their scanners to enforce groups. I think I started hearing them say it in January," another user wrote.

"It's always been a dirty little secret that boarding zones are not part of your boarding pass QR code, so when you scan your pass at the gate, the gate agent has no idea what zone you're in unless they visually look at it," an X user wrote. 

"The only people that will have a problem with this ARE THE PROBLEM," another X user wrote.

"The initial positive response from customers and team members has exceeded our expectations, so we are thrilled to leverage this technology to deliver for them ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday," Julie Rath, American's senior vice president of airport operations, reservations and service recovery, said in the press release issued in 2024.

This new technology will reportedly continue to be seen at more and more American Airlines gates, with the intent of keeping everyone in their correct boarding zone and not skipping the line.

Jacqueline Whitmore, a former flight attendant and etiquette expert based in Mount Dora, Florida, told Fox News Digital that she is in support of the airlines' latest tactic.

"I see this new procedure as a good thing. It will help expedite the boarding process and keep people honest," Whitmore said.