The line for your next flight just became more complicated.

Everyone knows the drill when it comes to boarding a plane: as soon as the gate agent announces it’s about to begin, travelers swarm the gate waiting for their group to be called, anxious to get on the aircraft in hopes of avoiding being parted from their carry-on bags when the overheard storage inevitably fills up.

Well, American Airlines AAL, -3.22% just found a way to streamline the process — or needlessly complicate it, depending on whom you ask. “On March 1, we’re launching a new, simplified boarding process,” the company said Wednesday.

The company is no longer announcing the members of its first four groups by name, and is instead listing them from one through nine, adding a new class of “basic economy,” which will board last. This new group offers tickets at a lower cost to customers who don’t have carry-on baggage and they cannot pick their seats until they arrive at the gate. United Airlines offers a similar basic economy fare class.

So here are the nine American Airlines categories of passenger and loyalty programs in order of boarding (the list doesn’t include those with children and travelers who need special assistance, who are obviously also given priority boarding). The first four categories are from the priority boarding lane, and the latter four groups are taken from the main boarding lane.

Priority

1. First class and active duty U.S. military with military I.D.

2. Executive Platinum, Oneworld Emerald (loyalty program).

3. Platinum Pro and Platinum (loyalty programs).

4. Gold, Oneworld Ruby (loyalty program), Alaska Airlines MVP members (loyalty program), AirPass, Premium Economy, and Citi AAdvantage Executive card members, customers who bought priority boarding.

Non-priority

5. Eligible AAdvantage credit card members and eligible corporate travelers.

(The next three groups include passengers in the main boarding lane.)

9. Basic economy.

This high number of boarding groups makes the process anything but simple, said Christopher Elliott, a consumer travel advocate, who also writes regularly about the airline industry. “This is a case study in corporate double-speak” he said. “American has created at least eight distinct groups of passengers, from the have-nots to the have-it-alls. This kind of stratification would make even an aristocrat blush. It has absolutely no place in the 21st century.”

American Airlines disagrees that it overcomplicates things. “The boarding order will be the same, with only minor exceptions,” a company spokesman told MarketWatch. “The change is in how we refer to each group on boarding passes and announcements.”

It is not the only airline to be criticized for a confusing boarding process, and the line to get on the plane is certainly not the only time travelers find themselves waiting at the airport. More than 70,000 American Airlines customers missed their flights and 40,000 bags were delayed due to airport screening, an executive for the airline told a U.S. congressional panel last year. The Transportation Security Administration has said it’s hiring more officers to speed up the process.