Travelers with tight connecting flights can rest a little easier on their next layover, thanks to a technology expansion happening at American Airlines.
The Dallas-based carrier has been expanding an AI-based service called Connect Assist, which uses an algorithm to assess whether the airline can hold the plane for passengers with tight connections, to more airports throughout the United States.
Here’s how it works: Connect Assist technology flags passengers’ itineraries that could be at risk for missed connections to recommend crew hold departing planes for a short amount of time where possible. The airline’s team members use the AI tool to analyze data, ensuring that crews can hold the plane for a few extra minutes without a larger adverse effect on the airline’s—or customers’—flight schedules.
The technology was developed in-house by American’s own team and automates a process already in place by the airline’s scheduling experts.
American first began testing Connect Assist in May 2025 at two airports: Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) and Charlotte (CLT), American’s two largest hubs. Now, the service is available at a total of six American hubs nationwide, including: Chicago (ORD), Miami (MIA), Philadelphia (PHL) and Phoenix (PHX).
The airline says it has plans to continue to roll out the connection-saving technology at even more airports throughout 2026.
The expansion of Connect Assist is part of a larger push at American to use technology to make the travel process more seamless. Over the last year, the carrier also launched new check-in kiosks at select airports to reduce time spent before security, an interactive 3D seat map for its Boeing 787-9 planes to assist customers during booking, and a redesigned mobile app with enhanced features like adding boarding passes automatically to Apple Wallet.
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