American bows to technology, ends in-flight gate announcements

American Airlines plans to stop on-board announcements of connecting gate information as flights prepare to land. The change, effective May 17, is a concession that technology has rendered the announcements moot, as passengers now travel equipped with an array of Internet-connected gadgets. American also displays gate information via the seat-back screens on its newer aircraft. “There’s a lot of ways to get that information, and it wasn’t necessarily helpful to provide that on the airplane,” a spokesman said. The announcements also irritated some passengers, he acknowledged, especially for anyone potentially engrossed in a movie. Delta and United Continental said they ended these announcements several years ago. <br/>