Boarding by group/zone simulations

[RooFlyer]

Not sure how 'new' this is, but interesting to anyone who is frustrated about in efficiencies in boarding!

Aircraft boarding simulations

 

[CaviAck]

They list American as using back-to-front boarding... This definitely is not the case when we were assigned second last row on LAX-JFK, back third of the plane HNL-LAX, DCA-DFW, DFW-LAX in December last year... Thank God for OW status, by the time the last surge of passengers boarded most of the overhead space was gone (and it seemed most of the pax in the rear boarded towards the end of boarding)

 

[RooFlyer]

... and that's exactly why boarding priority is such a big thing on FT Air Canada etc forums! Nth American airlines, as we know, allow so much carry-on junk that boarding is usually a zoo - because even high status pax need to get on ASAP to make sure the J bins aren't taken by Ys walking down to their seats!

 

[equus]

Not saying it is worth much (and can't remember conclusions) but Mythbusters did an episode on this.

Mocked up an airplane (narrowbody), including overhead lockers, and got a whole crowd of people and tried various scenarios. They included a mix of carry on, and the usual lost pax in wrong seats, people out of order, etc.

Whilst I can't remember the results, I seem to recollect that some complicated wedge zone system may be theoretically the best, if it can be followed, but in practice, nothing really outperformed the random free for all.

 

[moa999]

All the complicated wedge systems ignore the issues of families, stuff like that etc.

I still think if you had everyone in a pen (eg think SIN, KUL) then board from the back in say 3 row pairs it would work.
eg. All of Row 40 then 37, then 34 then 31 etc.. to the front.
Gives the 6/10 people enough space to slot luggage etc without getting in the way of another row and everyone in the row at the same time so window person goes in first.
Then Row 39, then 36, then 33, then 30 etc...

But for most airports it simply won't work.

 

[CaviAck]

All the complicated wedge systems ignore the issues of families, stuff like that etc.

I still think if you had everyone in a pen (eg think SIN, KUL) then board from the back in say 3 row pairs it would work.
eg. All of Row 40 then 37, then 34 then 31 etc.. to the front.
Gives the 6/10 people enough space to slot luggage etc without getting in the way of another row and everyone in the row at the same time so window person goes in first.
Then Row 39, then 36, then 33, then 30 etc...

But for most airports it simply won't work.

That still doesn't account for the odd status FF who will board whenever they feel like. In fact no boarding method other than random free for all will allow effect implementation of priority boarding for Y pax unless it's done before general boarding and then stops but that defeats the purpose of boarding at your leisure.

 

[JohnK]

I still think if you had everyone in a pen (eg think SIN, KUL) then board from the back in say 3 row pairs it would work.
eg. All of Row 40 then 37, then 34 then 31 etc.. to the front.
Gives the 6/10 people enough space to slot luggage etc without getting in the way of another row and everyone in the row at the same time so window person goes in first.
Then Row 39, then 36, then 33, then 30 etc...

But for most airports it simply won't work.

They seem to do this at most Asian airports and it appears to be fairly efficient.

In theory you could do the same at major Australian airports even though you do not have a holding pen but you still have a gate where people come to wait to board.

Cannot be any worse than some of the queues I see forming at the gates 15-20 minutes before boarding is due to begin.

 

[crm911]

They need planes like the cargo Antonovs, where you slide out the entire floor and overhead storage, seats attached. Get pax to be seated while in the departure lounge, then slide the whole floor back into the plane. Only pax in middle seats are inconvenienced.

 

[serfty]

They list American as using back-to-front boarding... This definitely is not the case ...

AA travellers who do not have Priority boarding benefits (First/Business, EXP, PLT, GOLD, Emerald etc) get "Group 2", "Group 3" or "Group 4" ... on their BP - this is assigned randomly for each booking.

AA state this has improved boarding times. (New AA Boarding Process (as of May 2011) - FlyerTalk Forums)

A passenger can pay extra to have "Group 1" on their BP.

 

[doctau]

As someone said earlier many simulations only represent the basic "everyone is a single adult in Y" scenario, and doesn't take into account people that need to board together (especially families > 3), people with priority boarding in the middle of the plane and so on. The more complex ones tend to show that disruptions such as the overhead being full and having to place carry-on a few seats away (or underseat when you are in the window) affect structured boarding more than random boarding. Families with more than 3 people tend to disrupt things quite a lot too.

I think there is also a big psychological aspect to this too, and random boarding seems fairer to everyone. If you can't fit your luggage into the overhead bin because you were on last, and you were last because of the strange way the airline forced you to board, you'll be annoyed