Strict Order Boarding Would Get Planes in the Sky Faster

electrostatic writes "In a Nature.com oldie-but-goodie, a physicist says he has solved a problem that costs airlines millions every year: what is the quickest way to get passengers aboard an aircraft? Boarding is a serious issue for airlines, particularly those operating short flights that run several times a day, yet boarding times have steadily increased for decades. Back in 2005 Jason Steffen of the Fermilab in Batavia, Illinois said the method used by many airlines to this day is almost the worst. 'The best way to board, according to the researchers, would be a row-by-row, seat-by-seat, strict order. That would mean everyone lines up, row 25 first. I can't imagine fliers will go for that. Next best, they say, would be boarding all the window seats first, followed by those in the aisle. Obviously that's not practical, at least for couples or families traveling together.'"

Comments

Not Faster

[webmaster404]

It would be faster until some guy arrives 5 minutes later then everyone else and has to go through security and get on the plane, because of the order everyone would have to stop, let him through, reorganize and then go through. In an ideal situation it would be faster but chaos is quicker then order because order can never truly happen.

Re:Not Faster

[tompaulco]

It would be faster until some guy arrives 5 minutes later then everyone else and has to go through security and get on the plane, because of the order everyone would have to stop, let him through, reorganize and then go through. In an ideal situation it would be faster but chaos is quicker then order because order can never truly happen.
If you aren't there 15 minutes (20 for some airlines) prior to boarding, then you aren't getting on the plane. Since it should only take 15 minutes to get everybody organized, the late of their own accord person is not a problem. The problem is the late because of the airlines person. That person doesn't have to be at the gate 15 minutes prior to takeoff. It wouldn't be fair to impose that requirement on a connecting passenger, since it is the airline's fault that he is late. But his being late would definitely screw up some sort of organized boarding system.

Re:Not Faster

[dal20402]

Also, what difference would this truly make? Airports already maximize the number of takeoffs from multiple gates. The plane has no choice but to take off at time X, regardless of how annoying the boarding process is. Any successful implementation of speeding up this process means that everybody waits on the plane longer versus in the seating area at the gate.

Most airlines at most airports (i.e. all airports but jammed nightmares such as LGA, JFK in the evening, or ORD) are not capacity limited. If they can turn around planes quicker, that means more legs per day throughout the system, which translates directly into money. For example, Southwest has been continuously refining its boarding process for quite some time to try to shave minutes off turn time. They are at 25 to 30 minutes at most airports; they would dearly love to get that down to 20.

Even at capacity-limited airports, quicker turn times can get the plane out of the airport more quickly, saving time in the rest of the system. At delay-prone airports, quicker turns can help keep the system on schedule. One delayed major airport, such as EWR for Continental, can screw up an airline's entire network in a real hurry.

In 1998, Boeing introduced the 757-300, a super-stretch variant of the narrowbody 757 we know and love from transcontinental U.S. flights. The plane has the lowest cost per passenger-mile of any large jet in existence. Nevertheless, it didn't sell well. At least some of the operators who rejected it did so because, as a narrowbody with ~45 rows of seats, its turn times were just too long to fit smoothly into a short-haul operation. Instead, because of the turn times, those airlines are operating either smaller 757-200s (UA, AA) or widebodies such as the 767-300 (DL) or Airbus A300 (AA, LH). That's how critical turn times are to airline ops.

this is happening

[iocat]

This is now the way Southwest boards, and it's quick and rational (as is their "no assigned seating" plan, especially for their typical short flights). Everyone gets a number, and the boarding is in groups of five. United has also tried (and still tries as far as I know) windows first, then middles, then aisles, but the system fails because of familes or others travelling together, all receiving the same boarding group. Also, "elite flyers" board first and screw everything up... United's system works pretty well most of the time though, but the real problem is you can't get everyone ready to board right when they open the doors, so it's never as rational as it should be (eg, some person in row 29 is going to board when row 18 is boarding and cause a traffic jam). Southwest's new system works well because they really don't care when you board or where you sit -- the line up is mostly so frequent flyers and early check-in-ers get the best choice of seats.

Re:Overhead space

[PCM2]

Eh, you're exaggerating.

There is something else working in your favor when it comes to checking bags: Money.

I was once boarding a flight to New York when I was told, arbitrarily at the gate, that I would need to check my smallish bag because there was no more overhead cabin room. "B-but-!" I said. "I'm sorry sir, that's the way it is," they said, grabbing my bag and tying a tag around it. Away went my bag. "You can pick it up at your destination."

What didn't really dawn on me until much later was, how could she possibly know what my destination even WAS? With the hub-and-spoke system airlines use in the U.S., it was foolish of her to assume that my destination was New York. So while American Airlines (yes, let me repeat, the airline in question was American Airlines) promptly delivered my bag to the terminal at JFK airport, I had to leg it to catch my connecting flight to Paris, then to Florence, and then by cab to a remote villa in Tuscany -- to which location American Airlines was then forced to deliver my bag, individually, by driver.

Hey, Lady at the Terminal -- was it worth it? How was your performance report that month? And let's not forget that my bag was damaged when it arrived and my camera was missing, meaning I couldn't take any photos at the wedding I was attending ... nice one, American Airlines!

Seriously ... many incidents like that, and terrorism or no terrorism, some flight attendants are going to exercise discretion when it comes to carry-on bags.

once again, the digital world at work

[holophrastic]

Digital seats, digital seat assignments, and digital boarding routines. How about somethign incredibly more simpler and less sophistimicated.

How about loading it back to front, not by seat assignment (which requires human beings to line-up according to rules) but by the order in which those human beings walk onto the craft -- you know, like a freakin' bus. "Timmy, please move all the way to the back of the bus."

Then, instead of controlling the problem of humans within an aircraft each having seat assignments, you get to control the order with which people board the plane. That's a lot easier and amounts to using your airline's stupid reward points to 'reward' people for taking otherwise undesirable seats.

Especially when we're talking about short commuter flights, it's a short flight -- you don't care which seat you have. You do care how long you sit without moving -- you know, just like a bus.

Man, a bus, I talk like I know something. It's been well over ten years since I've been on a bus. But that's not the point. Well, it's not the point here. We're talking about airplanes. I use those on a regular basis. Although I've never described the experience quite like a neighbouring passenger who said she's "made a career out of strapping a plane to my ass". I miss her. She was an advertising or marketing or sales person for a company that I don't remember, on a flight I've forgotten, going somewhere I can't recall, sometime in the last ten years. Maybe fifteen. Maybe five.

What is the real problem?

[davevr]

I live in China. As anyone who has visited here knows, the concept of a queue or waiting in line doesn't exist. When the doors open, there is a unorganzied hoard pushing madly to get into the plane. On top of this, people totally ignore the carry-on rules and routinely have several large boxes. It is pure chaos.

And yet, my china flights always board much faster than my US flights. The last flight I took was a fully-loaded 747 from Shanghai to Beijing. It boarded in about 10 minutes. A similar flight in US I had a few months ago took almost 30 minutes to board. I think there is something to be said for highly motivated chaos.

On a related note, I've never been able to figure out exactly why going through security in the US takes so long. As near as I can tell, the China and US airports do the exact same screening - the liquids in the bag, laptops out, no shoes, etc. - plus a passport check - and still it is on average 3x faster. So strange...

- davevr

dual boarding more efficient?

[trawg]

I wonder if dual boarding (ie, boarding from the front and the back at the same time) would be cost efficient for them. They'd obviously need almost 2x as many staff to cover both entrances, but maybe that cost is less than having the plane delayed due to boarding problems.

I'm always annoyed that I can't disembark via the back exit when I'm getting off (I always get stuck in the rear of the plane), and it irks me to be standing in a long queue to get on the plane when I know they could effectively double the bandwidth by opening up the back entry. I guess they don't want people walking on the tarmac unless they absolutely have to.

Re:dual boarding more efficient?

[mr_matticus]

Because planes are not a uniform length, and the jetways are absurdly expensive to begin with--far too expensive to replace with new double-ended ones. The alternative, open air-stairs, is no good in inclement weather and the overall cost in terms of security and remodeling boarding gates to accomodate more flow through the staff door would be cost-prohibitive.

There really is no good system. The inverse pyramid section-number situation really would work best overall if people obeyed and if gate crews enforced it. Instead, people scramble to be first in line when their number is called so they can get to their seat first...I guess because they like getting up two or three times to let people slip past, thus blocking the whole aisle and generally slowing everything down.

The fundamental problem isn't the infrastructure. It's not even the inconvenient configuration of the aircraft. It's the damn passengers. I was on a widebody that boarded (nearly full) in under 20 minutes once. The flight had been delayed four or five times over the span of six hours, and because of the weather, the crew informed the passengers that if they didn't get their asses in the seats quickly and without incident, we'd miss the only takeoff slot likely available. It worked.

Re:dual boarding more efficient?

[F34nor]

I was on United flight from Portland to somewhere east. The crew informed us that we had basically 15 minutes to board the plane or we would lose our spot and have to wait on the runway for an hour. She then told us "You will line up by rows with the highest numbers at the front of the line and the lowest at the back. If you neighbor in line has a higher number you will let them go in front of you. If you don't have any carryon baggage and see someone who needs help you will help them." She also told us we would be polite and helpful to each other, and put our bags in any nearby compartment. The plane filled up like pouring water into a cup. It really was a moment of Zen, by being enslaved we were set free. Everything went according to plan. Everyone was polite (it was a flight out of Portland) and we were done with 5 minutes to spare everyone clapped. It was honestly one of the best moments of flying I ever had. I am sure the flight crew had been working for Southwest or had recently flown southwest because one of them made a joke about people who hadn't been in a car since 1960 not knowing how to operate a seatbelt. The opposite is true anytime I fly in Asia. I fly a lot in the gulf and India and the people's behavior is horrible. When they announce the flight everyone jumps up and starts pushing. It is the same as the driving here, get yours first and fuck everyone else. God I miss America.

Is this really Slashdot? What about technology?

[skrolle2]

So far, I haven't seen any technological solutions to this? Why? Isn't this Slashdot? :)

Something I'd like to see is boarding passes as devices. You check in, and you get a token, a gadget, which has a little battery, a little display, some simple flashing lights, and wifi connectivity to the airport system.

So you need to get through security, and you're a bit late, and you have no idea who in front of you is more late than you, or if it's ok to skip the line. But if the airport has these boarding passes, you can build in a priority tracking system. Is your boarding pass blinking green? If so, skip the line to security. Is it not blinking? Fuck off, stand in line like everyone else. Big signs at security saying that you should let people through with blinking tokens.

Ok, you didn't get a gate number at check-in, so you have to stand around looking at the monitors in the airport. You can't go anywhere else, because the gate you need to be at might be far away, so no dawdling. If the boarding passes are connected, they can be updated in real-time, make a little beep, and display your gate on itself.

Also, passengers that are late or forgot their departure time and hold up the flight (graaoorrrgghh!!) could have their boarding pass remind them about where they should be. Make the pass beep and blink more, the more late the passenger is. No more relying on people listening to the speakers, which they don't.

Finally, boarding. So, making people board in the right order is hard. With a little blinkenlights it'll be easier. Is your pass blinking green? Then go board. Is it red? Fuck off, wait until your turn. No more big groups of boarding (passengers on row 44 to 28, please board, bla bla bla), you can individually signal each passenger that he or she should board, making sure to fill the plane up from the rear.