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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

#361

Post by seanmcdirmid »

glennpratt wrote: post #302
jacobolus wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> getting on/off with my family is not optional for me If you’re getting off with your family you should just wait for everyone else to exit first anyway unless you have a connecting flight with no time margin or something. Families are super slow to deboard planes. If your kids are young, you should probably be allowed to board first before other travelers. A column by column rule wouldn’t apply to you either way.

> If you’re getting off with your family you should just wait for everyone else Uhh, no. First of all, we aren't slow, second kids have tiny bladders and third when did childless folks become such fragile babies?

When I travel with my toddler, I always wait to get off..well, he is wearing a diaper anyways. I assume when he is a bit older, we will get off much more quickly, but right now...it is just too much of a hassle to rush off the plane.

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

#362

Post by bschwindHN »

wutbrodo wrote: post #335
bschwindHN wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good luck using your math on humans, I'm sure they'll all understand.

Without commenting on the wisdom of the plan above: what in earth are you talking about? You don't just announce the equation and say good luck. You'd announce each row or range of rows in order, the same way you do for boarding (or in boarding's case, as encapsulated by boarding groups). The real issue would be compliance, not comprehension.

> The real issue would be compliance, not comprehension.

That's why I'm saying "good luck"

Those "equations" don't account for human factors like families traveling together, elderly who need help getting their luggage down, or a sick passenger.

You can't just throw out some mathematical solution to the problem and consider it solved, so what on earth were _they_ talking about?

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

#363

Post by twojacobtwo »

disbshdns wrote: post #315
glennpratt wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you’re getting off with your family you should just wait for everyone else Uhh, no. First of all, we aren't slow, second kids have tiny bladders and third when did childless folks become such fragile babies?

They’re not babies. They just don’t get it. The totality of the commitment is lost on them. What’s new is that they also just don’t care.

Or, as I have heard from multiple friends who have chosen not to or can't have children(due to ethical concerns or lack of money), they understand completely and expect that parents take responsibility for the commitments they made without pushing the problems onto everyone else.

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

#364

Post by komali2 »

333c wrote: post #188
komali2 wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> put everything and the kitchen sink into over-sized carry-ons Which they only do because free checked is going away. You get what you optimize for, after all. IMO people pack way too much shit traveling anyway, but I'm sure here most are familiar with the onebag concept. I've no way to convince someone other than actually going on a trip with them and happily walking next to them while they drag their wheeled lugga…

Even on Southwest, which gives you two free checked bags, I see a lot of other passengers flying with small carry-on suitcases. I suppose they're worried about speed or loss/damage of their luggage, but I don't really know.

Fear of damage is fair. I'm flying United to San Diego for a little Motorcycle vacation and they will either let me check a bag or not at all - I can't buy a carry-on slot. Essentially I can bring only a carry on. I sure as shit am not checking my Motorcycle helmet, they'll destroy it. So I'm going to try traveling with nothing but my helmet, Kindle, toothbrush, and medicine :) it'll be an adventure, but fuck United.

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

#365

Post by mattmaroon »

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 think when you’re getting on the plane, you’re forced to adhere to airline rules, si boarding groups can give them real control over the situation. When you leave, what is the airline going to do if you don’t listen? Kick you off the plane you just left?

You really can’t feasibly make people do this on the way out even if it would work.

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

#366

Post by seanmcdirmid »

opo wrote: post #219
laumars wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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/

A booster might work also. Though to be honest, I wouldn't bother (my wife totally would, however).

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

#367

Post by samatman »

sethammons wrote: post #223
mattwad wrote: post #221

They should go back to offering free checked bags. I don't get why everyone thinks we should remove carry-ons. People didn't haev so many carry-ons when checking was free. If they really gave a damn to get us on faster, they would board the back of the plane first. But then that means people who paid more for their seat get on last. I always felt that the slowness just boils down to greed on the airline's part.

I check my carry on for free every time I fly. I tend to be on Alaska, United, or Delta.

Which argues for the point you're replying to: why should an airline charge money at the ticket counter for a service you can get for free at the gate? It's perverse.

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

#368

Post by seanmcdirmid »

kortilla wrote: post #266
r00fus wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are thinking of a single flight as disconnected from the entire ecosystem - in reality, the gate is occupied, the next flight can't board, cleanup can't take place and probably a half dozen other things I can't think up. And costs go up dramatically if things are already behind. I'd say deplaning quickly is about as important as boarding.

No, you missed the point. Speeding up deplaning won’t help much because of all of the things happening below the passenger deck (unloading baggage, unloading packages, emptying sewage, etc.) and in the cockpit (debrief). Getting passengers off quickly won’t help speed up the general post-flight process much. It’s very rare that the bottleneck is waiting for the cabin to be cleaned.

Depends...

On a commuter flight with a 10-20 minute turn around time, deplaning speed is definitely relevant. Not many bags are being checked anyways, and the next set of passengers is already in line waiting to board.

On any flight > 1.5 hours or on a plane bigger than a 737, your point holds. On a 11 hour international flight via a 777, deplane speed is really unimportant at all.

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

#369

Post by seanmcdirmid »

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

Business class seats are nice and you get a swanky drink/treat to enjoy after boarding. When in economy, I always hang back during boarding unless I'm worried about overhead, but in biz it is really different. And they often board through their own door anyways (if international).

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

#370

Post by seanmcdirmid »

billatq wrote: post #304
jsjohnst wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Not letting them board first (although personally I've always wondered why this is desirable) As someone who customarily boards early (due to fare class or airline status), I can tell you one solid reason, overhead bin space. If flight attendants would ensure folks put their bags on their row and the gate attendants ensured bags weren’t too large , this would be less an issue, but I routinely see folks fairly early…

Pretty much this. When I’m flying business I actually would rather board at the end, but I also don’t want to check my bag because it’s a hassle to retrieve and the contents are thrown several meters. If I could guarantee there was space in the overhead for my bag or if it was loaded for me, I’d board last.

Business class overhead space is often reserved for business class, even on domestic flights. That space doesn't usually fill up completely, so you have a lot more leeway in boarding.
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