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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

#171

Post by tristor »

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…

This is just one of many reasons that nobody should ever fly RyanAir.

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

#172

Post by groby_b »

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…

Boarding first is desirable because overhead bin space is v. limited. If you board last, it will be gone.

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

#173

Post by s1artibartfast »

Invictus0 wrote: post #118
dave5104 wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've typically had 20-25 extra minutes before they finally close the door. It's enough to get a head start on a podcast or watch a short TV episode.

There's nothing stopping you from watching that in the airport.

It is still much more pleasant to do it sitting down with a drink, than breaking focus every 30 seconds to check your boarding status.

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

#174

Post by bryanlarsen »

jaywalk wrote: post #98
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…

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.

A couple of times on Air Canada the attendants asked everybody to let those with close connections leave first, and people listened. I suppose there might have been a couple of jerks who ignored the announcement but nobody could tell.

I think that's the difference. Once one person behaves poorly, others interpret that as permission to also be a jerk so it's "fair".

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

#175

Post by gav »

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 reason we do the row-by-row method

The seats at the front of the plane cost more money. The airlines want everyone who didn’t pay extra to suffer a little to encourage them to pay more next time.

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

#176

Post by taeric »

whiddershins wrote: post #130

You know what I think is weird about all this discussion? Boarding and deplaning really don’t take that long, most of the time. Think 15 or 20 minutes max. It’s one of those things where it feels incredibly long and arduous. It feels interminable. But that has something (IMO) more to do with the psychological experience of flying. The actual time cost is fairly small, especially compared to so many other wastes of yo…

Agreed. Almost the definition of premature optimization. :)

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

#177

Post by s1artibartfast »

United857 wrote: post #112
dunmalg wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I've always wondered why this is desirable Others have noted other reasons, but I think the biggest reason is that 1st/business class seats are more comfortable than the crappy crowded boarding area. Economy seats, it's the other way around. And as an added bonus, on something like a 787 where the boarding doors are behind business class, boarding first means you're lounging around in the front of the plane being se…

Business/1st class passengers (at least on international flights) almost always have access to lounges, rather than waiting in the gate area. As good as the plane seats are, I'd still rather spend as much lounge time as possible.

I would never consider waiting in a lounge past the start of boarding.

The risk of having to reschedule a $5K flight is to great to justify the reward. If I'm not going to be in the lounge, I'm back to minimizing the time at the gate.

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

#178

Post by s1artibartfast »

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.

I don't think we can make that claim. There is no reason to believe the problems will affect both algorithms the same way. Some may be more fragile or failure resistant to different failure modes.

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

#179

Post by alkonaut »

If airlines really wanted to speed up boarding they should stop offering free carry on but charge for checked in luggage. Ryanair realized this now and for their cheapest category you aren’t allowed to put luggage in the overhead bins (or rather, the ticket allows only bags that fit under the seat in front).

As for boarding, airlines should have staff in the plane shoving people into the rows with their coats on and their carryons in their laps. Better yet, they should have signs in the gate instructing people to have their coats in their hands and not on them (just like the TVs at security). Once everyone is in the cabin, people can get up and use the overhead bins without blocking the aisle.

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

#180

Post by alkonaut »

whiddershins wrote: post #130

You know what I think is weird about all this discussion? Boarding and deplaning really don’t take that long, most of the time. Think 15 or 20 minutes max. It’s one of those things where it feels incredibly long and arduous. It feels interminable. But that has something (IMO) more to do with the psychological experience of flying. The actual time cost is fairly small, especially compared to so many other wastes of yo…

15-20 minutes is huge for an airline. This isn’t about travelers.
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