Live data from Hacker News

Letting slower passengers board airplane first is faster, study finds

arstechnica.com

201–210 of 512 posts

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

#201

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…

The great thing about being assertive is that you get to sit in the seat you paid for.

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

#202
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.

I don’t think anyone WANTS to have their luggage 4 or 5 rows away.

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

#203

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.

So Ryanair will take care of my 5 year old while I fly? Sounds peaceful. Last flight she spent 2 hours trying to lay down in the middle of the aisle.

I feel your pain. The last flight with my 2 year old daughter, she had to be physically held in her seat because she was too old to be allowed on our laps yet also too small for the seat belt to restrain her. The moment we let go of her she intentionally slid under the belt and out of the chair!

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

#204
post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

People did die on Aeroflot Flight 1492 because they didn't listen to instructions to leave their luggage behind. https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/columnist/mcgee/2019/0...

There's a lot of doubt about those early reports being accurate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroflot_Flight_1492#Evacuatio...

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

#205
post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, with this idea, people would just clog up right outside the airplane door waiting for their family. Anyone trying to get through would get some angry looks for daring to push through.

Assuming you can even split the family up. Plenty of people travel with younger kids (5 and under) and there's no way in hell that can be done safely without having the parents with them.

Maybe exceptions can be made for children?

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

#207
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 think boarding was covered in Freakanomics. Column boarding is technically fastest, but too impractical to coordinate. Just letting everyone randomly line up and enter the plane turns out to be the most efficient practical method, but no airlines do that.

Edit: looks like my memory is poor...

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/11/theres-...

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

#208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I have lounge access through my credit card but even if you don't, it's way cheaper to pay the airport lounge day rate than to fly biz class.

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

#209
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…

We do row-by-row because, generally, people with higher status and/or fares sit closer to the front -- and it feels more fair to let them off (and on) first, even if it costs minutes.

Huh? No, that makes no sense at all. The fares are exactly the same in the entire section of the cabin, and only differ by section (i.e., business class costs more than economy, "economy plus" costs more than economy, etc.). Planes don't have different costs by row within the same section.

We do row-by-row because we intuitively think that people closer to the exit should be able to get to the exit faster, even though this isn't really the case.

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

#210
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 think boarding was covered in Freakanomics. Column boarding is technically fastest, but too impractical to coordinate. Just letting everyone randomly line up and enter the plane turns out to be the most efficient practical method, but no airlines do that. Edit: looks like my memory is poor... https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/11/theres-...

> Just letting everyone randomly line up and enter the plane turns out to be the most efficient practical method, but no airlines do that.

Doesn't Southwest do that?

Post reply on HN