There's a mildly interesting article on the BBC about speeding up this whole getting on the aeroplane rigmarole:
The most common way of boarding passenger planes is among the least efficient, tests have shown. The best method has been the subject of study for years but now various approaches have been put to the test. Boarding those in window seats first followed by middle and aisle seats results in a 40% gain in efficiency.
However, an approach called the Steffen method, alternating rows in the window-middle-aisle strategy, nearly doubles boarding speed... He suggested boarding in alternate rows, window seats first, progressing from the rear forward: seats 12A, for example, followed by 10A, 8A and so on, then returning for 9A, 7A, 5A and so on, and then filling the middle and aisle seats in the same way...
The pair tested five different scenarios: "block" boarding in groups of rows from back to front, one by one from back to front, the "Wilma method", the Steffen method, and completely random boarding... The block approach fared worst, with the strict back-to-front approach not much better.
Interestingly, a completely random boarding - as practised by several low-cost airlines that have unallocated seating - fared much better, presumably because it randomly avoids space conflicts. But the Wilma method and the Steffen method were clear winners; while the block approach required nearly seven minutes to seat the passengers, the Steffen method took just over half that time.
According to the BBC the time (minutes:seconds) taken to fill the aircraft using the different methods were as follows:
"Block" boarding - 6:54
Back-to-front - 6:11
Random - 4:44
Wilma method - 4:13
Steffen method - 3:36
To cut a long story, they might as well not bother with these fancy methods and just let people get on at random. Even with the Steffen method, I'm sure it only takes one dickhead to sneak in ahead of his turn or for a couple of idiots to waste the stewardesses' time by asking whether it's their turn yet to completely negate the potential time saving.
Also, the article doesn't say whether they've worked out a way of getting people off the aeroplane and more quickly, which seems to take as long again.
A grim document
10 hours ago
9 comments:
And letting them all charge for the entrance gate?
JH, I don't fly often enough to have come up with anything yet.
Flew BA Edinburgh - Gatwick, Gatwick - Glasgow the other weekend. They wanted to board by row number.
Completely screwed because a significant number took no notice of the row numbers and went forward for boarding anyway; huge amounts of time wasted because staff felt they had to argue with, and turn back, "queue jumpers".
Then there are those passengers who ignore their seat allocation and just sit at the window anyway. Cue more "you're in my seat" mayhem.
And those who ignore the carry-on baggage size limits and expect to be able to get a full size rucksack or suitcase in an overhead locker. It's all bollocks. Human selfishness will always ensure that things like aircraft boarding are reduced to chaos; treat people like cattle, and they'll respond accordingly, seeking personal advantage wherever they may.
I try to avoid flying because it always leaves me wanting to kill some bastard or other - fellow passenger or airline staff, they're all the enemy.
Garrhhhhh!
Not got a lot to say about boarding, I always wait till last.
Deplaning (is that word?) bugs the hell out of me, I appreciate you've been cooped up for 12 hours, but standing up as soon as the plane lands isn't going to get you off any quicker. your tour bus, taxi, rental isn't going to go without you. Unless you've got 5 minutes to go disarm a bomb or you're transporting a human organ, sit the fuck down and wait.
It's like the tossers that stand at the door after the train leaves Waterloo East in the mornings, I'm sorry but if the additional 30 seconds means the difference between on-time and late, you need to manage your time better.
It's the same on the way home, "I'll stand by the doors once we leave Welling , that way I'll be first through the barriers at Bexleyheath and can disarm that bomb, seconds count in this game"
FT, that supports the theory that you might as well just let people charge on board and fight among themselves, the best laid plans etc.
PC, I concur. When it comes to disembarking, I just think, sod it, we have to wait for the stupid bus to take us the last hundred yards, I might as well stay sitting here until they chuck me off the 'plane.
Last onto the bus is first off anyway.
PC + Mark:
Yes, if there's a bus, you may as well just wait. If you've come to a real gate, I want to get off the plane as soon as I possibly can, and move through the airport as fast as I can. That will put me at passport control in front of the group of confused Syrians rather than behind them, which will save me a good 20 minutes.
PC - that reminds me of the days of the old slam-door carriages, when idiots used to jump off the train and hit the platform running before the train had even stopped. My amusement on getting on the train was always to see how fast it could be going before the (same?) idiots stopped trying to board it. Some of them showed an unexpected turn of speed.
Pavlov's cat + Anon 0338: exactly. Get on last, get off first. As I can go through the automated gates in Sydney it isn't such a big deal to get off first any more. Of course, when travelling in first class, it's get on first and get off first.
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