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The airline's AURA system has been automatically reassigning seats before passengers miss their connections, with no human override at the gate
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American Airlines' automated rebooking system has been removing passengers from connecting flights they are still able to board, drawing complaints from travelers and scrutiny over the airline's use of artificial intelligence in gate operations.
The system at issue, called AURA (AUtomated ReAccommodation), was rolled out in 2023 and predicts which passengers will miss connections and automatically rebooks them onto later flights. Those seats are then made available for reassignment to other passengers. When a passenger beats the algorithm's prediction and reaches the gate in time, they can find their seat already reassigned and themselves barred from boarding.
