Airport News

American Airlines adds extra first-on-the-plane boarding group

One American Airlines plane, many classes.

American Airlines

Fort Worth-based American Airlines is making changes to the boarding process, under the guise of "making the airport experience even simpler and more straightforward."

According to a release, on May 1, American will "refine" the boarding process by updating boarding groups and adding an additional five minutes of boarding time.

Updated groups for preboarding
Under the new system, First and Business customers will now get to pre-board first, along with those who used to be in the pre-boarding group: people in wheelchairs and parents with children age 2 and under.

AAdvantage members stay in their same mid-range groups, and as for the economy traveler, you're pretty much dirt.

5 more minutes
In February, American announced it was adding five additional minutes of boarding time to domestic mainline flights beginning May 1. Their theory is that this extra time, coupled with these updated boarding groups, will allow for a better paced boarding process. They also say it will result in as better management of overhead bin space, because "fewer carry-on bags will need to be checked at the departure gate" — although they do not explain why this is true.

As of May 1, here's how much time they're alloting for boarding:

Airbus A319, A320 aircraft: 35 minutes
Boeing 737, Airbus A321 and all widebody aircraft: 40 minutes

These "enhancements" come on the heels of American’s launch of new boarding technology last fall, which tells AA how many customers there are in each group to maintain a steady boarding process.

This technology is available to 90 percent of customers when boarding, including most of American’s major hubs, with the remaining 10 percent rolling out before the end of 2025.

The haves and have-nots
Below is a chart with the updated boarding groups. Basically, they've broken what used to be "Group 1" into two levels: Preboard and Group 1.

Preboard was previously for people who needed more time getting onto the plane (although is that not true of all of us?). In the new scheme, the wheelchair brigade and the breeders are now joined by ConciergeKey and all Business travelers (some Business travelers used to have to board with the icky lower groups but now they're bumped up).

And in the department of "if you have to ask, you can't afford it": ConciergeKey is the highest tier of the airline's AAdvantage elite status program, reserved for top-spending customers and corporate travel influencers. It's an invite-only status, not open to everyone.

While Business gets bumped up, U.S. military gets bumped down from pre-boarding to Group 1.

Preboard

ConciergeKey
First/Business
Families with children ages 2 and under

Group 1

AAdvantage Executive Platinum
Active duty U.S. military with military I.D.

Group 2

AAdvantage Platinum Pro
oneworld Emerald

Group 3

AAdvantage Platinum
oneworld Sapphire

Group 4

AAdvantage Gold
oneworld Ruby
AirPass
Citi / AAdvantage Executive cardmembers

Group 5

Main Cabin Extra (excluding Basic Economy)
AAdvantage members who earn 15,000 Loyalty Points
Eligible AAdvantage credit cardmembers

Group 6

AAdvantage members

Group 7-8

Main Cabin

Group 9

Basic Economy

transportation airport

News for campers

New 650-acre state park coming to Lake Palestine in East Texas

Photo courtesy of TexasLand

Lake Palestine

East Texas is gaining a new state park at Lake Palestine that will include amenities like hike-and-bike trails, campsites, and lakefront access.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation has paid more than $10 million for a 650-acre ranch at Lake Palestine that will be converted into a state park, the agency says. If the park opened today, it would be the 90th state park in Texas.

The ranch, roughly 100 miles southeast of Dallas, had been on the market for a little less than $10 million. Roughly 60 percent of the ranch is wooded, and about 40 percent is pastureland.

The foundation will make improvements to the site, about 18 miles west of Tyler, before handing it over to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in late 2027. That’s when funding from the Centennial Parks Conservation Fund will become available for the department to acquire the property.

The deal preserves one of the last large habitat sites in that part of East Texas and will ultimately expand public access to Lake Palestine. The lake encompasses more than 25,500 acres and touches four counties. White-tailed deer, bobcats, and waterfowl are among the creatures that populate the habitat.

“Opportunities to protect a property like this don’t come along very often, and when they do, timing is critical,” Anne Brown, the foundation’s executive director, said in a release. She said the land will “ultimately become a place where generations of Texans can enjoy the outdoors.”

The Pollard family had owned the ranch, which housed their pecan farm, since 1940. Aside from the pecan orchard, the property includes pine forests, ponds, a seven-acre lake, and Lake Palestine frontage.

Sam Pollard, president of Texas Pecan Nursery, said the property “is part of my soul. It means a lot to me that we can leave a legacy for people to enjoy.”

The foundation says visitors to the future park will be able to enjoy blufftop views of the lake, watch wildlife and birds, and walk around the pecan orchard. They’ll also be able to take advantage of boating, paddling, swimming, and fishing at Lake Palestine.

Rodney Franklin, director of the state park system, called the site an “East Texas gem” and thanked the Pollards for enabling “this special slice of the Pineywoods to be accessible for generations of Texans.”

The parks and wildlife agency plans to create the park in phases, starting with guided access, followed by daytime access and then full-day and overnight access. The agency will invite public input about the park’s development.

Planned amenities include hike-and-bike trails, traditional and primitive campsites, day-use areas and lakefront access.

The NextEra Energy Foundation, a philanthropic arm of NextEra Energy and NextEra Energy Resources, chipped in $100,000 to support the future park. NextEra supplies electricity to about one million customers in Texas, mostly through its Gexa Energy subsidiary.

In addition, the wildlife foundation tapped into the state’s Land Conservation Loan Fund for the ranch purchase. The voter-approved, donor-supported fund aids land conservation efforts. Dallas-based Lyda Hill Philanthropies was an inaugural backer of the loan fund.

lake palestine parks state park texas