Physicist cuts plane boarding time in half
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Physicist cuts plane boarding time in half
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Re: Physicist cuts plane boarding time in half
#2I remember seeing this before.
I think it's really cool, though in the article I read before one major block to implementing this is that you'd be splitting up group boarding (of even 2 people travelling together).
I feel like that might be a tough message to try to explain to everyone at the airport, since in general people are worried about everyone in their party making it on the plane safely and with all their stuff. Gate agents have enough worried customers as it is.
Re: Physicist cuts plane boarding time in half
#3Boarding by blocks starting at the front is ridiculous.
In fact, I'd be hard pressed to think of a worse way to board a plane. And yet somehow every time I fly that's how it happens. Maybe it's just that my company chooses horrible airlines.
The article mentions that assorted methods of boarding were tried, though it only goes into detail about "the Steffen method". I wonder what the difference between blocks-from-the-front and the obvious improvement of blocks-from-the-back is.
Re: Physicist cuts plane boarding time in half
#4Boarding by blocks starting at the front is ridiculous. In fact, I'd be hard pressed to think of a worse way to board a plane. And yet somehow every time I fly that's how it happens. Maybe it's just that my company chooses horrible airlines. The article mentions that assorted methods of boarding were tried, though it only goes into detail about "the Steffen method". I wonder what the difference between blocks-from-th…
The difference is generally that higher-paying (i.e. first and business class) passengers get seated first (because having your higher-paying passengers wait for the lower-paying passengers is undesirable), and they're also generally seated at the front of the plane so they don't have to wait when getting off either.
Re: Physicist cuts plane boarding time in half
#5Boarding by blocks starting at the front is ridiculous. In fact, I'd be hard pressed to think of a worse way to board a plane. And yet somehow every time I fly that's how it happens. Maybe it's just that my company chooses horrible airlines. The article mentions that assorted methods of boarding were tried, though it only goes into detail about "the Steffen method". I wonder what the difference between blocks-from-th…
The difference is generally that higher-paying (i.e. first and business class) passengers get seated first (because having your higher-paying passengers wait for the lower-paying passengers is undesirable), and they're also generally seated at the front of the plane so they don't have to wait when getting off either.
also the ride is nicer. But yeah, it's stupid.
Re: Physicist cuts plane boarding time in half
#6The source paper: http://arxiv.org/abs/1108.5211
Re: Physicist cuts plane boarding time in half
#7Imagine how much boarding time could be slashed if robots handled the baggage. The line stops moving when people are trying to store their bags, even if stepping aside for a moment would significantly reduce delays for others.
Re: Physicist cuts plane boarding time in half
#8I remember seeing this before. I think it's really cool, though in the article I read before one major block to implementing this is that you'd be splitting up group boarding (of even 2 people travelling together). I feel like that might be a tough message to try to explain to everyone at the airport, since in general people are worried about everyone in their party making it on the plane safely and with all their st…
Yes, the main problem with this method is that it is socially unacceptable to split up families and groups while they wait to board and are boarding.
I think a slightly less efficient approach would be to somewhat batch up rows. So instead of having all of the people in the window aisle on one side of the plane enter, how about have 1 row of people (typically 3) on one side of the plane. Instead of doing every row at once, do every 3rd or 4th row. That way, the same amount of people will be in front and behind you as before (including moving up far enough to be out of your way when the group of 3 in front has reached their row). So then you can alternate sides of the plane, and also alter what set of rows on each side (basically, if 0 == row modulo 3, then you are the first set of rows to board).
Regardless of how anyone decides to partition passengers, however complicated, the computer just needs to make sure to number boarding passes accordingly so people can line up in whatever order you choose. Southwest kinda has that going on (your boarding pass has an A,B,C and a number 1-60 on it), but the letter/number is based purely on what order the passengers checked into their flight (and on southwest people get to sit wherever they want).
Re: Physicist cuts plane boarding time in half
#9Classic example of "cracking a nut with a sledge hammer". You don't need Monte Carlo to understand that boarding first rows is less efficient, or to come up with a much more efficient procedure. (And this is coming from a Monte Carlo lover).
What you do need is biz savvyness to understand that rows are ordered by passenger value (first and biz class first, followed by premium, platinum, frequent flyers, etc). These passengers pay a high premium to board and deplane first. Airlines are not going to lose these valuable passengers for a gain whose magnitude is uncertain at best.
Re: Physicist cuts plane boarding time in half
#10Boarding by blocks starting at the front is ridiculous. In fact, I'd be hard pressed to think of a worse way to board a plane. And yet somehow every time I fly that's how it happens. Maybe it's just that my company chooses horrible airlines. The article mentions that assorted methods of boarding were tried, though it only goes into detail about "the Steffen method". I wonder what the difference between blocks-from-th…
The difference is generally that higher-paying (i.e. first and business class) passengers get seated first (because having your higher-paying passengers wait for the lower-paying passengers is undesirable), and they're also generally seated at the front of the plane so they don't have to wait when getting off either.
Though back-to-front means that the expensive passengers can arrive closer to the departure time, and don't have to suffer through everyone in economy shuffling by them and hitting them with their carry-on.
It does cost them some flexibility, in that they can't board as soon as they arrive. But my experience is that sitting outside of a plane is generally far nicer than sitting in first class... at least on domestic flights. For international flights getting on sooner would be more desirable.