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.
Letting slower passengers board airplane first is faster, study finds
221–230 of 512 posts
Re: Letting slower passengers board airplane first is faster, study finds
#222Earlier 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…
Boarding first is desirable because overhead bin space is v. limited. If you board last, it will be gone.
This is much, much less true in first or business class in my experience. (Same number of bins for fewer seats for a given aisle length.)
Re: Letting slower passengers board airplane first is faster, study finds
#223They 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.
Re: Letting slower passengers board airplane first is faster, study finds
#224The 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.…
Also they won't do this because business flyers usually don't check bags. That way they won't be lost (by the airline) and so control over their destiny is retained by the flyer. I've done quite a few international trips, even week long trips, without checked luggage. Having your luggage get lost can be a real time consuming hassle and one you don't want to deal with when on a business trip.
Re: Letting slower passengers board airplane first is faster, study finds
#225Tip #3 -- Parents, never use the pre-board
https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/samantha-brown-travel...
Re: Letting slower passengers board airplane first is faster, study finds
#226Earlier 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…
I’m pretty sure fares for each person fluctuate greatly depending on when they purchase and what terms they had and what discount or upgrades they have.
Re: Letting slower passengers board airplane first is faster, study finds
#227The conclusions are pretty obvious, I guess they just needed to simulate it? The fastest boarding I've ever experienced was something Cathay Pacific did a few years ago. In the boarding area they had three lines with a bunch of section signs and an a couple employees hassling/sorting people between the lines. The rear of the plane sections were at the front of the line. I'm guessing they were just counting how many p…
> Quite a shock given the hour long boarding AA can sometimes pull off with their messed up boarding order based on miles and cabin front to back... Not to mention the people who just say "F it" and board whenever they like it. For as often as I've seen them "rejected", I've equally seen them just waved on.
Part of the issue is the weird way airlines label the groups. If you're not familiar with Delta's process and have "boarding group 1" printed on your boarding pass, why wouldn't you go up first? (I think boarding group 1 boards seventh, after people needing extra time, active duty military, first/Diamond, business, Comfort+, Sky Priority. It's possible that some of those are combined; I'm not entirely sure.)
Re: Letting slower passengers board airplane first is faster, study finds
#228Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
There's a documentary on Netflix, I think it's called "Speed" or something because it's about fast stuff, had an episode about doing Monte Carlo simulations of plane embark / disembark sequences that were optimal. They came up with optimal boarding processes but it required individual seat assignments which was a problem for kids (not to mention a ton of explaining). I forget if Southwest's semi-randomized approach w…
I think you (and others in this thread) will enjoy CGP Grey's video about this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAHbLRjF0vo
Re: Letting slower passengers board airplane first is faster, study finds
#229Earlier quoted context omitted.
Boarding can't normally happen while the plane is being refuelled, which means passengers boarding the plane is the last thing that happens before the plane is ready to take off. That means the faster they can board passengers, the sooner the plane can get in the air. For deplaning it's not so urgent for the airlines to speed it up, as once the plane has been disenbarked there is still 40+ minutes of refuelling, clea…
> Boarding can't normally happen while the plane is being refuelled It is possible, but with more rules and restrictions. https://www.skybrary.aero/index.php/Refuelling_with_Passenge... https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/31197/is-it-nor...
It's quite common for fueling operations to be done with passengers on board for trans-oceanic flights (more fuel to load and longer boarding process).
Re: Letting slower passengers board airplane first is faster, study finds
#230This reminds me of the book The Goal by Eli Goldratt. It's fictional, but there's a story about a boy scout troop that goes on a hike, and there's an overweight kid named Herbie who hikes the slowest. The troop leader teaches everyone that the entire group as a whole will reach the top faster (and stay together) if they keep Herbie in the front.
When you have a bottleneck step in your process, the whole end-to-end process will run the most smoothly if everything else matches pace with the bottleneck.