American Airlines Just Updated Its App — Here's What's Actually Useful
AA's app update: redesigned trip page, Group 4 boarding for purchase, miles top-ups at check-in, plus upcoming wayfinding and reservation splitting.
American Airlines announced a set of app updates covering the trip details page redesign, new in-app purchases, and two features still rolling out in the coming months.
Image via American Airlines Newsroom
What's Live Now
Redesigned trip details page. This is the main change most passengers will notice. The trip details view has been reorganized around a central hub — mini navigation banners let you move between flight details, upgrade status, check-in, and boarding pass without hunting through the app. The ability to manage trip options (seat selection, bags, upgrades, cancellation, wheelchair services, infant additions, inflight entertainment) are consolidated in one place rather than across menus. Disruption information is also more prominent.
Having disruption support appear contextually on the affected flight is a real quality-of-life improvement during irregular operations - and brings AA more to parity with the transparency offered in United's app.
Priority Group 4 boarding for purchase at check-in. AA has been selling boarding position upgrades in various forms for a while. This latest app update adds Group 4 specifically as an in-app purchase at check-in. Group 4 is the boarding group for AAdvantage Gold members, and being able to buy into it at check-in is aimed at non-status passengers who want reliable overhead bin access. The real loser here is Gold Status members, depending on how successful these upsells are.
Buy additional AAdvantage miles at check-in. Addvantage can now top up their miles balance in-app at check-in, at a promoted lower rate than the standard purchase price. If you're close to a redemption threshold or an upgrade, this may be helpful, but rarely is it the best value.
What's Coming
Airport wayfinding maps. AA is adding gate-to-gate navigation inside the app for connecting passengers, including a walking time estimate. For anyone who has sprinted through ORD or DFW trying to figure out which direction to run, this is the right feature. It's worth noting that AA's app already includes some existing airport map functionality. It remains to see what enhancements these new maps will provide.
Reservation splitting. Travelers booked together on a joint reservation will be able to split it into separate bookings directly in the app when plans change. The person splitting gets a new confirmation code while everyone staying on the original reservation sees no change. This is a genuine upgrade - splitting a booking currently requires a call to reservations. This is a great win for passengers and reservations agents alike.
Overall Take
It's great to see American investing more in their IT and mobile app. While there's still work to be done, I've been thrilled to see the recent improvements in the airlines mobile app experience.
Source: American Airlines Newsroom
Related: AA App Delay Explanation Feature