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Subscribe to RSSSurprise, the standard row-block method of airplane boarding isn't the most efficient way to get passengers to their seats.
In fact, it's the worst, according to a new experiment by an astrophysicist — yes, an astrophysicist, who works with Batavia-based Fermilab.
Jason Steffen tested different methods of boarding after he, like many travelers, became stalled by passengers stowing oversized carry-on bags into overhead bins.
Among the boarding types he tested: back to front, window seats then middle and aisle seats, and the oft-used, block-row boarding.
Steffen hired 72 people to try out five methods on a replica airplane on a Hollywood soundstage while he timed them.
Based on the trials, he found boarding by alternating rows at once was most efficient, followed by boarding window-to-seat and letting passengers board randomly. They're all faster than block rows, Steffen concluded.
Alternating rows gives passengers enough room to squeeze their luggage into bins while others find their seats.
It's being called the "Steffen Method" and the experiment's full results are printed here.
More on Overhead Bin
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- Man tries to sneak snakes on a plane, TSA says
- Q&A: What you can't carry with you on a plane
This story originally appeard on nbcchicago.com.
Leave a Comment:
yeah.. how about doing away with Elite Class, VIP Class, Business Class, Business Elite Class, Ghetto Class, Peasant Class, and Non-Human class, boarding, etc, etc etc? It seems like they take the longest to board and have the most luggage. Why is it they are always still loading by the time Peasant class boards? (Zone 3-4)
I've never understood boarding first class folks first. Aside from the fact that they're at the front and everyone else must navigate through them, who wants to get on first? I try to wait as long as possible. Getting off first, now that I understand.
What kind of physicist doesn't know that the average human is in fact a sheep on two legs... and is therefore not capable of boarding a plane in any fashion other then being herded in small groups. I respect his study, but there is a "me first", and "my kids are spoiled and have to be seated in the slowest possible manner" human factor that was not calculated in. You need a fresh set of 72 people each time.
how do you know that?
It might get the airlines attention now that a physicist has said their boarding plan sucks. Passengers have been telling them the same thing for years, but nobody listens to the passengers, do they?
How about boarding people with the least carry-on luggage first? That would give passengers some incentive to take less it on.
Why worry about how long it takes to board the plane when we have to stand in line for hours waiting to be molested and irradiated by the TSA.
There is one important piece missing from this research, psychology. This experiment assumes that the people boarding the plane are coldly rational automatons. Since the people in the study knew it was a study, they followed instructions. It does not account for the tight connection, the couple who want to board and sit together, the person sitting in the wrong seat, the 98# woman trying to lift the 50# roll aboard...
The old board from the rear towards the front is best in my judgement. The newer "block" method, where there are numbered blocks of tickets with mixed rows is definitely the worst; those trying to get to the rear are "blocked" by those already on board and nearer the front.
It took a astrophysicist to figure that out. A 4th grader could have done it.