from the WSJ today:

Mr. van den Briel's research has led to an innovative boarding system at America West Airlines called "reverse pyramid." The first economy-class passengers to get on the plane are those with window seats in the middle and rear of the plane. Then America West gradually fills out the plane, giving priority to those with window or rear seats, until it finally boards those seated along aisles in the front.

The team published its findings this summer in the operations-research journal Interfaces, showing that the reverse pyramid boarding can reduce boarding time by as much as 39% and reduce congestion caused by luggage loaders.

The most significant new procedure is at UAL Corp.'s United Airlines. It now boards window-seat passengers first, then middles, then aisles, rather than boarding back-to-front by rows. Northwest Airlines says it's currently studying different boarding procedures, too.

And in a trial of experiences with different airlines:

Our second Northwest flight was one of our worst. We counted at least a dozen people with more than two carry-ons apiece (including a woman with a huge box of pineapples). Overhead space filled up quickly, and the line stopped at least a dozen times as people hunted for baggage space.

A Northwest spokesman said past company research has shown that boarding from the back of the plane to the front is the most efficient way to board, but they are researching the matter again.

It would seem like it would be faster just from not having to crawl over people to get to the window seat... Seemes like you could do 10 rows at a time window, then middle, then aisle...

A problem with this seems to me to be that people traveling together will want to board together and not a lot of people traveling together sit in window seats in front and behind each other -- rather in rows next to each other.
tom

Probably everyone on this site is an elite and may be able to continue to board first (which in itself may corrupt the new "reverse pyramid" boarding method), but assuming most people like aisle seats, do you think more would request window seats to board earlier and get precious overhead space?

I don't think so....to me the window seat is very cramped when not in an exit or bulkhead. I think what will happen is that elites will continue to board whenever they want as they do now when elite preboarding is cancelled.

If this were done with zone boarding the system could be smart enough to put people on the same PNR into the same zone based on where all their seats are. This wouldn't effect boarding performance because they wouldn't have to crawl over each other to get to their seats.

>>>>A problem with this seems to me to be that people traveling together

A well-programmed "zone system" program should be able to give anybody in the same record who has an adjacent seat to a window person the same "zone", so they would board together, which wouldn't slow things at all. The only problem would come if they were in separate records, or if they were a family with kids that was "scattered all over the plane".

Heaven forbid that they would be apart for 5 minutes to expedite the boarding process. Kids and people needing assistance aside, just board when you're called and you'll be making googly eyes at each other in no time!

The real issue with boarding is luggage. People with oversized bags, 3 bags, placing smaller bags overhead with coats. A person standing up is second. A person searching for a spot can take minutes and then he fights the stream coming in to get back to his seat.
Start enforcing 2 bags the luggage size and boarding will be half the time. Even if you start with the front boarding before the back, the isle before the window.

This comment would be supported by the report of the survey in the WSJ (note NW comments):

AIRLINE* BOARDING PROCESS BEST FEATURE MOST TRYING MOMENT BOTTOM LINE
American Airlines By groups, starting from the back of the cabin forward, about one-fifth of the rows at a time. Elite passengers got a lot of time to board. All the people pushing toward the gate -- many of whom were trying to board out of turn. We wish American kept the boarding area clear of people who weren't supposed to be boarding yet.
Continental Airlines Starts from the back and boards a quarter of the plane or so at a time. Separate line for elite fliers. Thanks to early boarding, a latecomer with a large guitar didn't cause delays because passengers were already seated. The possibility of early boarding means your group could board before you get there, which happened to us.. The old-fashioned board-by-row system worked smoothly on a completely full flight.
Northwest Airlines Starting from the back, three to five rows at a time When several people brought on too many bags, attendants were quick to rearrange them. Watching dozens of platinum and first-class travelers board before us. We wish they'd enforced the two-bag carry-on limit on our oversold flight.
Southwest Airlines No assigned seats; planes board in groups of 45. A-group boarding passes available online 24 hours before flight. We paid BoardFirst.com $5 to secure us an A pass, though we got one by ourselves on the way back. The cattle-car environment at the gate, as everyone lines up to be at the front of their boarding group. Southwest seems unlikely to ever assign seats ahead of time. Given that, the system works decently.
United Airlines WilMA: Window seats first, followed by middles, then aisles. We flew two crowded flights that boarded smoothly and left on time. We flew an overbooked holiday weekend flight that boarded chaotically. Jury's still out. The system was introduced last month and could still have some kinks.

* All airlines except for Southwest allow first- and business-class passengers and certain frequent fliers to board first.

Hmmm, maybe a 0 carry on, then 1 carry on... system would speed things up, or at least give people a motivation not to carry less things on...

I am glad you qualified your reply with "to me." In my opinion window seats are much preferred to aisles, especially on longer flights. So many reasons - no one is climbing over me to get out (yes, I am the one climbing but I try to be sensitive about how often I get up), no one is bumping me or pulling on my seat back and they move along the aisle, I have the room between the seat and the window and can rest better that way, etc.

I know however that I am in the minority - and I am glad for that since window seats are generally easier to get than aisle seats.

>>>>>In my opinion window seats are much preferred ...

I would add to your reasons: the enormous, cracking thunderstorms that stretched the whole sky I saw recently flying out of MEM stretching from MEM to BNA--mind blowing; the dappling lights in mountainous valleys through Tennessee at dusk that define cultural geography in the heartland; the gorgeous russet colors of fall in the upper midwest from MKE to MSP across Lake Winnebago; the stunning view of my own 4-lakes home region in MSN when flying from DTW to MSP after a bump that put me out of the standard route home; the pattern of human inhabitance of the islands in Lake Erie--dotted by airfields, ports, lighthouses, and homes on the 20-minute hop from Cleveland to Detroit; the stunning shift from SFO to SJC population to east bay strings of cities to mountains to Tahoe and lake to mountains that form the legacy of our westward expansion in the 1800's to the present; the soaring tropical clouds and patterns of lights that show the post-air-conditioning inhabitation of the Florida peninsula in one grand sweep when flying into MCO. I think I omitted a few hundred other reasons!

I was about to add that, depending on the routing, it is nice to look out the window, but wow - I could not have said it better!

I've boarded under America West's system. They allow two people sitting together to board when the first person's number is called.

It doesn't add much time, as the first person usually sits, while the other loads the overhead bin.

The "reverse pyramid" does seem to make sense for faster boarding times. Large carryons would jam up the process regardless of the boarding pattern.