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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

#151

Post by alharith »

scott_s wrote: post #81

I'm also convinced that we exit the plane in the worst way possible. We basically do it row-by-row: as the people in front of them leave, people in a row get up, get their bags, start walking down the line, and this cascades up the plane. The problem is that there is very little parallelism: while people in the next row to leave are getting their bags, no one is exiting the plane. This is similar to a stall in a proc…

One of the problems is people who put their carry on luggage 4 or 5 rows down from their seat. This should just not be allowed, period.

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

#152

Post by CJefferson »

scott_s wrote: post #81

I'm also convinced that we exit the plane in the worst way possible. We basically do it row-by-row: as the people in front of them leave, people in a row get up, get their bags, start walking down the line, and this cascades up the plane. The problem is that there is very little parallelism: while people in the next row to leave are getting their bags, no one is exiting the plane. This is similar to a stall in a proc…

The obvious issue is, people sitting in rows are often together and want to disembark together. Often they are elderly or children, and need to disembark with the others in their row.

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

#153

Post by benhurmarcel »

ehnto wrote: post #76
dmurray wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They do that all the time and it's not for passenger convenience: it's to shave minutes off the turnaround time and get more flights per day. They also almost never use an airbridge even in airports where that is standard. That's both for speed (Ryanair's guys on the ground can get the ramp there faster than the airport employees who drive the airbridge) and for cost savings, since airports charge for that service.

Honest question, are they skipping some other steps then? I wouldn't I expect deboarding and boarding to take longer than checks, fuel and cleaning.

Cleaning happens between deboarding and boarding, not in parallel.

Normally there are no particular checks that can't be done from the cockpit at turnaround.

Refuelling takes less time than that typically.

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

#154

Post by alharith »

cogman10 wrote: post #143
scott_s wrote: post #81

I'm also convinced that we exit the plane in the worst way possible. We basically do it row-by-row: as the people in front of them leave, people in a row get up, get their bags, start walking down the line, and this cascades up the plane. The problem is that there is very little parallelism: while people in the next row to leave are getting their bags, no one is exiting the plane. This is similar to a stall in a proc…

This is where being a jerk would be beneficial for everyone. Simply put, the person at the front of the line should basically just ignore everyone and move forward. People aggressively jumping in gaps would even be OK because it would give people in the back time to grab their stuff and get organized. Being polite is what ends up slowing everyone down. (the same is not true for boarding. Back to front outside columns…

You think it's beneficial. The people who are angered by the rudeness would not perceive it as beneficial.

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

#155

Post by benhurmarcel »

MereInterest wrote: post #61
mcmoose75 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Overhead bin space is the big reason- give the somewhat (last 5 years-ish) changes to charging for the 1st checked bag, many who would have otherwise checked a bag are bringing on as carry-ons. Many flights I've been on in past several years have had a real shortage of bin space, meaning getting on board early to make sure you're not the odd man out IS important (waiting for baggage carousel can take an extra 45 minu…

It wasn't that recent. I was flabbergasted by an advertisement in an airport in 2013, which was trying to entice people into a membership with "Free checked bag? Don't worry. You'll get used to it." Advertising as extravagant exactly what used to be standard with the ticket.

> what used to be standard with the ticket

Base tickets are cheaper now however.

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

#156

Post by Macha »

ehnto wrote: post #76
dmurray wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They do that all the time and it's not for passenger convenience: it's to shave minutes off the turnaround time and get more flights per day. They also almost never use an airbridge even in airports where that is standard. That's both for speed (Ryanair's guys on the ground can get the ramp there faster than the airport employees who drive the airbridge) and for cost savings, since airports charge for that service.

Honest question, are they skipping some other steps then? I wouldn't I expect deboarding and boarding to take longer than checks, fuel and cleaning.

Since a lot of Ryanair flights are relatively short hops, that would at least cut down on refueling time, if not just fuel every couple of legs if the economics work out.

Cleaning is definitely sometimes abbreviated, I've been at the stand for a Ryanair flight in Leeds, seen the previous passengers get off, then they boarded us five minutes later (the inbound flight was late, so maybe not standard practice)

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

#157

Post by jrs235 »

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…

>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.

Consider they would be pissed if overhead bin space isn't available for them so they have to jet way check their carry-on luggage and then wait when they arrive or find overhead space further back the airplane which just leads to a cluster mess trying to deplane upon arrival.

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

#158

Post by Symbiote »

eitland wrote: post #108
jaywalk wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was on a flight a year or two ago where, upon landing, a woman turned her phone on and received a call informing her that her brother had passed away. She was understandably quite distraught as we taxied to the gate, and the lead flight attendant even made an announcement asking everyone to please remain seated so that she could exit the plane first. Nobody listened.

I witnessed what seemed like a severe case of hypoglycemia in a passenger a few rows from me while stuck in a plane. The idea that someone might die because people cannot just listen is somewhat scary.

I saw (just the seat in front) someone taken ill.

The crew left the seatbelt sign on, and paramedics in uniform boarding meant everyone got the message.

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

#159

Post by reaperducer »

ntsplnkv2 wrote: post #127
cgriswald wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s sort of like comparing two algorithms and using the one that has the simplest best case time complexity without considering the average case or that your particular real-world use might actually be a worst case.

But ultimately the same problems affect both algorithms in the same way. So the best case algorithm will be slower in the real world, but should still be faster than the other cases.

Only if all algorithms are affected the same way by the same external factors, which simply doesn't happen.

It's like when a Toyota and a Freightliner crash into the same wall. They both crashed at the same speed, why is one damaged more than the other?

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

#160

Post by benhurmarcel »

londons_explore wrote: post #140
benhurmarcel wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> getting on/off with my family is not optional for me. Ryanair has now accustomed Europeans to travel separately from their family, so it wouldn't surprise me to see that requirement change if it drops the price.

Ryanair has pretty much given up enforcing seat allocations. Sure, your boarding pass might say one seat number, but it's pretty much a "sit in any free seat" policy. 90% of the time when i get on the plane someone else is in my seat, so I'm forced to sit in a random seat, giving someone else the exact same issue. The staff know that getting everyone back into the correct seats will take a massive effort, so don't bo…

My experience is that yes there's lots of shuffling around, but people politely ask others if they accept to change seats.
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