Originally Posted by
jspira
It's a bit more complicated than just groups of Window, Middle Seat, Aisle. It's broken up quite intelligently in terms of raw efficiency but it may break down when people irrationally insist on boarding with family members who are in the next seat.
"The Group B boarding group will be for those with window seats in the back half of the plane. Group C is for passengers in middle seats in the back and front window seats. Group D is for passengers with aisle seats in the back and middle seats up front, while Group E will be for passengers with aisle seats in the forward part of the aircraft...."
From
JetBlue to Unveil New Boarding Process
Again, I've not been traveling on other carriers since many went to group boarding, but I'd hardly say that breaking up family groups to board is going to work well on an airline with a lot of leisure travelers. A lot of times you may have families or groups that don't necessarily need pre-boarding but would desire to be kept together (thinking traveling with kids who are old enough to not need extra time, but not old enough to be sent ahead without parents). You'd think a system could tell if say the middle and aisle seats are on the same reservation, and board both of those passengers with the one group or the other, since they won't block another passenger from getting into the row.
I'll be on a flight tomorrow night (in the scenario described above, middle and aisle) so it'll be interesting to see how it works out.