Physicist cuts plane boarding time in half • Hacker News Board

Re: Physicist cuts plane boarding time in half

#61

Post by mwsherman » Wed, Aug 31, 2011, 3:24 AM UTC

aurelianito wrote: post #46

city41 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are other practical considerations too. I can't even imagine trying to organize the passengers in the airport such that they board in the alternating row, outside-in configuration. And there's the pretty much insolvable problem of when they start boarding the plane, many people just get on and couldn't care less that their row/section hasn't been called yet.

The first part is easy, color code the ticket (e.g. first red, then blue, etc). The second issue is trickier, but it happens now anyway. I would say that they already know how to handle it.

Doesn’t even need color coding, just call it “Group A” etc, as they do now.

Re: Physicist cuts plane boarding time in half

#62

Post by teyc » Wed, Aug 31, 2011, 3:27 AM UTC

The delays I experienced is usually due to one or two passengers trying to get their last cigarettes before boarding.

Furthermore, there is no point getting too geeky about complicated boarding sequence if passengers are going to get unhappy over it.

Better to do a Steve Jobs and keep things simple.

Re: Physicist cuts plane boarding time in half

#63

Post by joeyh » Wed, Aug 31, 2011, 3:27 AM UTC

davvid wrote: post #53

colonelxc wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Another simple solution would be to board from back-to-front. Right now it's front-to-back: the business-class passengers (at the front of the plane) board first. Economy class boards last and each passenger has to walk through the congestion. Getting business-class travellers to give up their sense of entitlement and board last could be a little tricky, though. I'm sure there's a psychological marketing trick that c…

I always board last. I'm going to be spending too many hours on the plane anyway, why would I want to spend yet another hour sitting motionless on the tarmac when I could be out where there's power and wifi and restrooms? So I book an aisle seat and ignore the zone calls and get in line near the very end.

Then I make up for being in some way possibly antisocial by helping someone with their luggage or something.

(As noted, I don't pay too much attention to it, but I do think they often board the tailies before the center on at least some airlines.)

Re: Physicist cuts plane boarding time in half

#64

Post by joeyh » Wed, Aug 31, 2011, 3:35 AM UTC

stretchwithme wrote: post #7

Imagine 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.

If the airlines cared about this problem, they could eliminate much of it by dropping the checked baggage surcharges. Enormous bags that barely fit or whose owners can't lift them was IIRC not as much a problem 12 years ago, when checked luggage was free.

Re: Physicist cuts plane boarding time in half

#65

Post by mdhen » Wed, Aug 31, 2011, 3:42 AM UTC

frossie wrote: post #47

Savings from sophisticated method to board plane faster: 110 million dolars Getting passengers to board when (and only when) it's actually their turn: priceless (and, I suspect, far trickier)

I think Southwest definitely has the best system for this (numbered pillars to line up at), although it doesn't really apply to seating arrangements since SW is random seating.

Although that seems like a bonus as the random seating was the second best method.

Re: Physicist cuts plane boarding time in half

#66

Post by vlokshin » Wed, Aug 31, 2011, 3:53 AM UTC

mwsherman wrote: post #61

aurelianito wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first part is easy, color code the ticket (e.g. first red, then blue, etc). The second issue is trickier, but it happens now anyway. I would say that they already know how to handle it.

Doesn’t even need color coding, just call it “Group A” etc, as they do now.

Haha I was thinking this my entire read down this thread.

Re: Physicist cuts plane boarding time in half

#67

Post by synacksynack » Wed, Aug 31, 2011, 3:54 AM UTC

Menkes van den Briel did some work on airplane boarding. He has really nice explanations and videos here: http://leeds-faculty.colorado.edu/vandenbr/projects/boarding...

Re: Physicist cuts plane boarding time in half

#68

Post by tesseract » Wed, Aug 31, 2011, 4:05 AM UTC

matthew-wegner wrote: post #57

My solution: Offer free drinks if everybody can board in Not entirely joking!

Will that get people to cooperate or will it just get them to trample each other? I'd be worried people would just hear "free drinks if you get on the plane quickly" and ignore the part where it needs to be everyone.

Or you might just get a teetotaler blocking the aisle.

Re: Physicist cuts plane boarding time in half

#69

Post by dantheman » Wed, Aug 31, 2011, 4:15 AM UTC

joeyh wrote: post #63

davvid wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another simple solution would be to board from back-to-front. Right now it's front-to-back: the business-class passengers (at the front of the plane) board first. Economy class boards last and each passenger has to walk through the congestion. Getting business-class travellers to give up their sense of entitlement and board last could be a little tricky, though. I'm sure there's a psychological marketing trick that c…

I always board last. I'm going to be spending too many hours on the plane anyway, why would I want to spend yet another hour sitting motionless on the tarmac when I could be out where there's power and wifi and restrooms? So I book an aisle seat and ignore the zone calls and get in line near the very end. Then I make up for being in some way possibly antisocial by helping someone with their luggage or something. (As…

The only problem with boarding last is that there may not be any space to store your baggage, and you'll have to check it.

Re: Physicist cuts plane boarding time in half

#70

Post by silencio » Wed, Aug 31, 2011, 4:27 AM UTC

davvid wrote: post #53

colonelxc wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Another simple solution would be to board from back-to-front. Right now it's front-to-back: the business-class passengers (at the front of the plane) board first. Economy class boards last and each passenger has to walk through the congestion. Getting business-class travellers to give up their sense of entitlement and board last could be a little tricky, though. I'm sure there's a psychological marketing trick that c…

Virgin America seems to board back to front (after first class, families, etc.) and it tends to be just as time consuming as boarding front to back in my experience. It's even worse because the people sitting back occasionally decide to put their bags in the front above seats that haven't even started boarding that need their own bag space in return. I think boarding any which way with one piece of small carryon or similar will do far more than the order in which you have people board.