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Letting slower passengers board airplane first is faster, study finds

arstechnica.com

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Re: Letting slower passengers board airplane first is faster, study finds

#51

Post by reaperducer »

virtuous_signal wrote: post #21
undefined1 wrote: post #4

CGP Grey has a great video examining different boarding methods and why some are slower or faster than others: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAHbLRjF0vo Also noting that the way we deplane (front to back) is the slowest method, heh.

Great video. This is one of those phenomena, like how to fix traffic jams, that everyone has an opinion on because of firsthand experience, but few people know about the actual research on. Despite there being known fast methods, I think 2 things stand in the way of implementing them: 1) Business and 1st class make a lot of money for airlines. Not letting them board first (although personally I've always wondered why…

although personally I've always wondered why this is desirable

When I was fat, I paid extra for first class tickets so that I wouldn't be the slob jerk who overflowed into my neighbor's coach class seat. Because of that, I had a lot of coach-mindset first-class seats.

Boarding first in first class gives you an opportunity to get some work done, to relax a bit before the plane takes off, and almost always you get to have a drink and a snack before the plane leaves the ground. It gives you a chance to put your head on straight for the next leg of the journey, or catch up on stuff before the ascent.

If you're a busy person (as I was back then), boarding first really makes a difference.

Re: Letting slower passengers board airplane first is faster, study finds

#52

Post by reaperducer »

wtvanhest wrote: post #30
virtuous_signal wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great video. This is one of those phenomena, like how to fix traffic jams, that everyone has an opinion on because of firsthand experience, but few people know about the actual research on. Despite there being known fast methods, I think 2 things stand in the way of implementing them: 1) Business and 1st class make a lot of money for airlines. Not letting them board first (although personally I've always wondered why…

One option that isnt discussed is having the overhead bins be seperately ticketed and a box. So if you want a bin, you pay $40 and one gets asigned to you. It would streamline boarding because people would put their stuff in the bin and be done.

Until they don't, and then the air hostesses who are just trying to get everyone seated have to become policemen as well. They have enough to do.

Re: Letting slower passengers board airplane first is faster, study finds

#53

Post by kelnos »

majormajor wrote: post #10
pseudolus wrote: post #5

It would have been particularly interesting to see what would have happened had the study concluded the opposite: that letting slower passengers board first slows overall boarding. Which would have prevailed? Efficiency or the common decency inherent in allowing children and individuals with infirmities to board first?

I don't understand why boarding first is desirable, except for scarcity of overhead luggage space (heightened by checked bag fees and growing rollaboard bags) and those few first class folks getting a free drink while they wait. Fix the storage issue and I'd want to board last - don't extend my time in those seats!

For me a part of it is indeed the overhead luggage space issue. But also I'd rather just be "on my way". If I'm sitting out at the gate, even if I'm reading something, I need to have part of my attention trained on the PA system, waiting for the boarding (or other) announcement. Once I'm on the plane and in my seat, I can read, put on headphones and watch something, whatever, without my attention divided, until we land.

It helps that I don't find airplane seats all that uncomfortable, at least no more uncomfortable than the seats in most gate areas.

Re: Letting slower passengers board airplane first is faster, study finds

#54

Post by MereInterest »

cryptonector wrote: post #42

Airlines don't just sell the tickets. They sell convenience and comfort. And they have to mediate a limited resource shared by passengers: overhead bin space. So they want premium customers to get dibs on overhead bin space, which means letting them board first. The slowest part of boarding sometimes is the tail (economy and late-arrivals) looking for bin space, or worse, having to bring their carry-on back to the do…

> And they have to mediate a limited resource shared by passengers: overhead bin space.

If only there were other places that luggage could be stored. Somewhere for larger bags that aren't needed during the flight. Somewhere that could be loaded independently of the passenger door. If such a place existed, airlines could give incentives to have passengers place baggage there instead of overhead.

Or airlines could do the exact opposite, charge extra for the less convenient method, and slow down the boarding process as a result.

Re: Letting slower passengers board airplane first is faster, study finds

#55

Post by reaperducer »

leetcrew wrote: post #11
russdill wrote: post #2

There's a lot of focus on improving boarding times. But I haven't seen any attempts to improve deplaning. It's always via the slowest possible method.

I'm guessing this is because the airlines feel it's easier to enforce boarding procedures than deplaning. hardly anyone is going to charge the gate to board out of order, but once the plane has arrived at it's destination, people want to stand up and get off as soon as they get a chance.

hardly anyone is going to charge the gate to board out of order

Really? I see this all the time.

You can especially see it on airlines that have signs for group lines labeled 1-5 permanently displayed at the gate. As soon as the announcement goes out that the boarding process will begin shortly, a dozen people from Groups 4 and 5 will rush to their lines.

I've never understood this. I just sit back and relax until the mayhem calms down and then I just stroll on at the back of my group.

We all leave at the same time, so what's the rush? Then again, I don't ever travel with just a carry-on bag.

Re: Letting slower passengers board airplane first is faster, study finds

#56

Post by lcfcjs2 »

cryptonector wrote: post #42

Airlines don't just sell the tickets. They sell convenience and comfort. And they have to mediate a limited resource shared by passengers: overhead bin space. So they want premium customers to get dibs on overhead bin space, which means letting them board first. The slowest part of boarding sometimes is the tail (economy and late-arrivals) looking for bin space, or worse, having to bring their carry-on back to the do…

Nonsense. There can be plenty of small improvements done without prohibiting carry-ons. Absolute rubbish.

Re: Letting slower passengers board airplane first is faster, study finds

#57

Post by ehnto »

StillBored wrote: post #18

The conclusions are pretty obvious, I guess they just needed to simulate it? The fastest boarding I've ever experienced was something Cathay Pacific did a few years ago. In the boarding area they had three lines with a bunch of section signs and an a couple employees hassling/sorting people between the lines. The rear of the plane sections were at the front of the line. I'm guessing they were just counting how many p…

I booked 4 flights with Cathay not sure what to expect, but it was a pretty good experience all round. Boarding was a non issue, fast and on time. Everything else was perfectly functional, if economical. The staff were excellent.

I didn't appreciate the mid flight catalogue advertising for beauty products though. Talk about a captive audience. That only happened on the leg between Japan and HK, I hope it's not common...

Re: Letting slower passengers board airplane first is faster, study finds

#58

Post by ken »

ryandrake wrote: post #3

I always thought it would be best to let the window seats board first, ordered back to front to minimize waiting for stowing baggage, then middle seats back to front, then aisle seats back to front. Families traveling together would obviously complain, but it would probably get the plane boarded much faster overall.

CGP Grey addresses this in the video (commented elsewhere here). This strategy minimizes the Seat Shuffle, but it turns out that isn't the major slowdown when boarding, so overall this is only slightly faster than boarding in random order.

Re: Letting slower passengers board airplane first is faster, study finds

#59

Post by ghaff »

cryptonector wrote: post #42

Airlines don't just sell the tickets. They sell convenience and comfort. And they have to mediate a limited resource shared by passengers: overhead bin space. So they want premium customers to get dibs on overhead bin space, which means letting them board first. The slowest part of boarding sometimes is the tail (economy and late-arrivals) looking for bin space, or worse, having to bring their carry-on back to the do…

>will first have to commit to not letting economy passengers have carry-on.

Some do in a limited way. The lowest tier of economy (I think United calls it Economy Basic, aka steerage minus) allows you a "personal item"--which you basically have to allow because you can't force people to check medicines, etc.--but no carry-on.

Re: Letting slower passengers board airplane first is faster, study finds

#60

Post by paulmd »

kmonsen wrote: post #49
throwaheyy wrote: post #37

The US airlines’ system of roughly allowing people to board in the order corresponding to how much they pay (with up to 9 distinct groups) looks a little silly now.

If you are the airline it seems to work out since you are actually turning this into a money making opportunity? The real issue is if the slow boarding is costing the airline more than the money than they earn from charging from upgrades. Also consider that the people paying for expensive seats might be sad if they don't get to board early which again might affect airline revenue. I think airlines is pretty happy wit…

Yeah, as long as you are "overlapping" boarding and servicing, I think the servicing of the aircraft takes longer than the boarding/unboarding, so it does not actually delay the rate at which the aircraft can be turned around. The action of boarding the aircraft takes 10 minutes longer, but it's 10 minutes that you were going to be sitting on the ground anyway while the plane is fuelled and loaded up with meals/etc.
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