What are gate lice at American Airlines?

American Airlines is ready to expand its crackdown as the holiday season approaches, renowned as the Gate Lice. Usually, travelers come under two categories once they reach the departure gate: one whose mentality is they won't leave without us and another who is already standing in the queues with their hand luggage to bid the boarding first. So American Airlines has initiated a crackdown on the latter or gate lice. 

As per the reports, the Fort Worth-based carrier announced on Wednesday that it is rolling out new boarding pass scanning technology to more than 100 U.S. airports following a successful month-long trial at Albuquerque International Sunport, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, and Tucson International Airport. Now, if the traveler tries to board the flight before their group is called, then this software automatically won't accept the boarding pass, and it will make an audible beep to alert the Airline staff agent to notify the customer that they cannot board the flight yet. Therefore, the passenger will be sent back to wait for their group call, although the traveler flying with someone who has already boarded the flight can still board.

American Airlines Boarding Gate lice is a pejorative coined more than a decade ago by Frequent Flyers on several online forums like Flyertalk. Consequently, Charlotte Douglas International Airport and Raleigh Durham International Airport are not on the list of more than 100 U.S. airports to get the new technology, as AA tells Axios. Still, domestic travelers could confront it on their flight home. Although the Airline usually operates 90% of daily flights out of CLT, it is soon expanding into some North Carolina Markets.

The News: Over the past few months, American Airlines has tested its new alarm tech at a handful of Airports and responded to complaints from travelers who have paid extra to get the benefit of early boarding. 

The derogatory term 'Gate Lice' means to detect the passenger who used to board the flight first before their turn. American Airlines will soon expand the technology further to the hubs and several other Airports, including North Carolina; in the upcoming months and other airports such as Greensboro (GSO), Greenville (PVG), New Bern ( EWN), Jacksonville (OAJ), Fayetteville (FAY) said American airline spokesperson Bri Harper told Axios. 

American Airlines official Julie Rath said that they have received positive feedback, and it has exceeded our expectations 

How does Gate Lice technology work?

The technology has a sound alarm that rings when someone tries to board the flight before their group is called. Then, it will automatically reject their boarding pass and notify the Airline staff agent. However, the Airline agent will ask them to rejoin the line and come before their group number is called, said Axios Naheed Rajwani Dharsi.

• Gate lice technology will overrule the alert for those flying with someone boarding earlier than their group.
• This advanced technology will also share with the Airline agent information about how many passengers are in each boarding group and track the number of incoming flights that people are connecting from.