The problem comes back to OH space. For all other purposes, the more you fly, the more you come to realize that you want to be the last person on the aircraft. When I fly on a day trip with just a small brief case, I board as late as possible.

If UACO and other carriers actually enforced their respective carry-on policies (just because a steamer trunk can be engineered into the OH doesn't make it "legal," 99% of the boarding nightmare would go away.

There is no reason why anything the size of a 757 or smaller can't board in 20 mins. and push on-time other than a lack of organization. Add the 10 mins. extra for each rotation and that adds up to a lot of downtime for a carrier across a day.

If the OH issue weren't a factor, I would board the bulkheads + exit rows and then whatever process works fastest. As it stands, it's a zero sum game with everybody losing.