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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

#211

Post by magduf »

frankus wrote: post #141
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…

Idle thought I had a while back: Let people who don't have anything in the overhead bins get off first.

I can get my stuff out of the overhead bin in about 1 second.

I have a better idea: people should have to go through qualification testing to see how fast they can grab their backpack out of the bin and start walking down the aisle. Fast people should get special dispensation, and slow people should be required to leave last. The problem is that too many people bumble around and take forever to do a very simple task.

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

#212

Post by magduf »

hombre_fatal wrote: post #189
alharith wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

People don't have control over this. The overhead compartments near your seat are full and thus closed, so you must put them elsewhere. One person with two massive carry-ons can basically fill an entire compartment alone.

That's why the crew should be enforcing the bag limits. One person is only supposed to have 1 carry-on, and it's supposed to be a relatively small size.

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

#213

Post by asdff »

oarabbus_ wrote: post #195
jbigelow76 wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...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 find myself with a case of both sider-ism on this. One the one hand (the hand that really should win out), we should all be able to act as decent empathetic people with the instruction following capabilities of a 7 year old when the situation dictates. But on the ot…

Sure, the legroom is considerably lacking in economy class. But aside from that (a small price to pay for a trip that would otherwise take days to months, no?) what makes you call being on a flight being like "damn cattle"? >But on the other hand, when you treat (and pack) your customers like a bunch of damn cattle, don't be surprised when they act like a bunch of damn cattle.

I don't get the gripe with leg room, unless you are oddly shaped. I'm 6' and I don't care about leg room or leaning back, because in every flight you can just push your bag under your seat and stretch your legs fully under the seat ahead of you.

I find a 5 hour flight more comfortable than 3 hour sporting event on an aluminum bleacher.

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

#214

Post by donarb »

hombre_fatal wrote: post #189
alharith wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

People don't have control over this. The overhead compartments near your seat are full and thus closed, so you must put them elsewhere. One person with two massive carry-ons can basically fill an entire compartment alone.

You sometimes have people who will put their bags in the first bin they find and then walk back a few rows. Then when deplaning they get out of their seat not having to rustle their bags in the crowd, they merely walk forward, grab their bag and keep going.

The last flight I took, the attendants kept the first 3 bins on both sides closed to allow late front people a place to put their bags. Still people kept opening the bins trying to put a bag in when it wasn't their section.

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

#215

Post by drewg123 »

The problem with the boarding process is luggage. What airlines should do would be to make a checked bag free, and charge for overhead-bin use. That will reduce the boarding time by reducing the time to find bin space and stow luggage.

I suspect that airlines don't have an option to try this, because they all have co-branded credit card deals and frequent flier programs where some of the perks are free checked bags. I imagine that their credit card partners would not be happy about them devaluing the card by removing bag fees.

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

#216

Post by abcpassword »

peteretep wrote: post #196
bcrosby95 wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Ryanair sadly don't do unaccompanied minors, but for an airline that does (and 5 seems to be the lower bound), and if flying with a partner, I've always wondered if the following would work: Parent A flies without child on Day 1; Child is given to airline by Parent B on Day 2 and retrieved on the other end by Parent A. Parent B flies without child on Day 3.

Why would you abandon your child? What’s wrong with you?

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

#217

Post by sokoloff »

mehrdadn wrote: post #92
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…

> personally I've always wondered why this is desirable Maybe peace of mind? One you're on the plane you know you're good to go. When you're in the terminal you have to keep diverting your attention to announcements, changes, distractions, etc.

It also has optionality. If you want to board first, you're welcome to. If you want to board last, you're also welcome to do that with a first-class ticket.

I'm in the "board first, get it over with, get settled in" camp. My wife wants the boarding door to brush her backside as they close it. When we travel together, we don't always board together.

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

#218

Post by gpderetta »

magduf wrote: post #209
ngoel36 wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 thoug…

We do row by row because unless you litterally climb on top of those in rows further ahead than you (currently standing the isle and possibly getting their bagage) there is no other way out.

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

#219

Post by opo »

laumars wrote: post #203
bcrosby95 wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

You might want to look into a CARES harness. They are FAA approved and not very expensive. They are designed for kids weighing 22 - 44 pounds.

https://www.faa.gov/travelers/fly_children/

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

#220

Post by stale2002 »

ftio wrote: post #93
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 sounds like it might be faster, and I might like it for solo business trips, but getting on/off with my family is not optional for me. Assuming most multi-passenger groups feel similarly, and assuming solo business passengers represent only ~40% of the population, the impact of such a system (which would require substantially more passenger discipline/planning) would be pretty limited.

> but getting on/off with my family is not optional for me.

For sure. But there is a solution to this. The solution is that you and your family should stay seated, and wait a bit, for people behind you to leave.

And then once there is a big enough empty space, THEN you and your family should start getting ready to leave.

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