Board Early on American ... for a Fee

There's a 95 percent chance Senior Editor Christine Sarkis is thinking about travel right now. Follow her on Instagram @postcartography and Twitter @ChristineSarkis.

Christine Sarkis is an SATW-award-winning journalist and executive editor at SmarterTravel. Her stories have also appeared on USA Today, Conde Nast Traveler, Huffington Post, and Business Insider. Her advice has been featured in dozens of print and online publications including The New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, and People magazine. She has also shared travel tips on television and radio shows including Good Morning America, Marketplace, and Here & Now. Her work has been published in the anthologies Spain from a Backpack and The Best Women's Travel Writing 2008. She is currently working on a travel memoir.

The Handy Item I Always Pack: The Trtl Pillow. It's easy to pack and comfortable, and makes it so I can actually sleep on flights.

Ultimate Bucket List Experience: Seeing the Aurora Borealis from the comfort of somewhere warm, like a glass igloo or hot spring.

Travel Motto: Curiosity is an amazing compass.

Aisle, Window, or Middle Seat: Aisle all the way.

Email Christine Sarkis at editor@smartertravel.com.

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According to this article in the Seattle Times, American Airlines has unveiled a new way to charge customers money. Let me rephrase that. American Airlines has unveiled the “Your Choice” program, which offers its passengers “Boarding and Flexibility.”

For between $9 and $19 each way, passengers can get a spot in Group 1 of general boarding. The Seattle Times speculates (and I agree) that the “main advantage presumably is first crack at overhead bin space, which has grown tighter as more people carry on bags to avoid checked bag fees.”

The program also includes a $75 discount on flight-change fees and the option to fly standby on an earlier flight the day of your departure. The latter can now be considered a perk since American eliminated the standby option for non-premium customers a while back.

What do you think? Would you shell out for earlier boarding and more flight-change flexibility? Or do you see this as the sort of nickel and diming you don’t want to support with your nickels and dimes?

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