“Gate lice” has become a widely used term to describe passengers who cut in line when boarding a plane, and one gate agent has come up with a method to control it.

In a recent Reddit post shared to the Delta airlines forum, one user recalled an employee’s process to avoid passengers cutting in line by creating a punishment for anyone caught not boarding with their designated group.

“This is the best thing I’ve heard in a while,” they prefaced the method. “Gate agent stated if he caught anyone trying to board before their zone was called, he was automatically confiscating and gate checking their carry-on bags.”

Anyone who tried to bring on more than one carry-on item would also be subject to the same punishment, they said. Most airlines only allow one carry-on item and one personal item per person for the passengers seated in Economy.

“Anyone with more than one large carry-on could also be subject to confiscation,” the Reddit post read.

After posting, many people turned to the comments section praising the agent for coming up with the rule.

“It reminds me of a parent threatening to turn the car around when you know they’re not going to because they need to get to wherever they’re driving lol,” one person wrote.

Another commenter agreed, writing, “Delta finally hired field marshals for gate agents! Brilliant!”

“Sorry, but they simply can no longer be Mr. Nice Guy when it comes to airport operations. Entitled people take advantage all the damn time and it impacts travel for the rest of us who do follow the rules. So enough already.”

Other less sympathetic commenters also came up with extra punishments for gate lice.

“Kudos to that gate agent. What they also need to do is mark their boarding pass and make them board after zone 8. Gate lice are getting out of control,” one person suggested in the comments as the original poster pointed out that the gate agent would also make any line-cutters go to the back of the line.

“They should also have a big beep made when their code scans so that everyone knows it is a person trying to skip,” another suggestion read.

A third added: “They should make the line cutters stand next to the gate agent so everyone can side-eye and silently judge them as they board.”

Aside from gate agents, some airlines have recently implemented new technology to mitigate “gate lice.”

Back in November 2024, American Airlines announced that over 100 airports across the U.S. would be switching to their new technology system after successful trials in Albuquerque, Washington, and Tucson.

The new software will not accept the boarding pass of passengers before their group number is called and will make an audible sound to alert gate agents that they have broken boarding protocol.

For customers traveling with a companion in an earlier boarding group, the gate agent can override the alert and accept the pass to continue boarding.

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