Almost all of my flying experience is on American, so I'm not sure how much this applies to the others, but I think all US majors technically board back to fron

Almost all of my flying experience is on American, so I'm not sure how much this applies to the others, but I think all US majors technically board back to front. The problem is that there are so many ways so "cut" in line that (at least according to some airline industry friends of mine) it's fairly common for about 50% of the plane to board out of order. Off the top of my head, you can board earlier on AA if you: - fly on the airline a lot/have some sort of frequent flyer status - are in a premium cabin - have the AA credit card - pay $10 extra at checkin - are in the military - have a seat on a row with a bulkhead in front of it - are on an exit row - have children flying with you .. and, of course, I'm sure that list isn't exhaustive. By the time you factor all that in, I usually think it looks like boarding happens in a completely random order.