Board in 1/5th the time
 

What's Up With That: Boarding Airplanes Takes Forever

http://feeds.wired.com/c/35185/f/661...0C/story01.htm

Waiting to get on an airplane sucks. Is it possible that there's a better way? The post "What's Up With That: Boarding Airplanes Takes Forever" appeared first on WIRED.

(Searched a few of the 499 threads including "boarding". Apologies if this is a duplicate).

The answer is left side window every 2nd row back to front, same then on right, then repeat for left middlle and so on. Should not cause much confusion.

That intimates no priority boarding, if it's all back to front. Should go over well with the FTers here... :D

One thing that AC has not implemented is two door boarding. In South Africa and Germany on domestic flights people board from both the front and rear end of the plane at the same time.

....it's also great for people traveling together, including with kids.

As this is not an Air Canada specific article I've relocated it to a more general travel forum, TravelBuzz.

tcook052
Air Canada Forum Moderator

I've flown dozens of flights within Germany and South Africa and don't recall boarding from the rear and front doors. Do you mean on wide bodies where the gate permits a split and F/J passengers board through the first door and others through the second door further down but in front of the wing? Only time I know I boarded "from the back" was our SK MegaDo for one of the final flights of the MD80 and some of us used the rear, drop down door under the tail and engines since we were on the open tarmac and not hitched to a gate.

Can't see how airports can handle that sort of boarding unless the plane is parked on the tarmac and passengers board from outside and not inside the terminal.

WestJet had this at YVR, but clearly they didn't find it terribly valuable because they essentially abandoned it after a while.

I think originally it had something to do with an accident but I can't 100% recall the reason or situation.

Part of the problem is too, the bridges were much more expensive (which is why YVR only had 3 of them) and I think lots of the passengers still didn't follow the rules, even with directions and signage, people would still go to the front door and end up walking back to row 30 slowing people down from both ends.

Board in 1/5th the time
 

It sounds like the root problem is hoisting luggage overhead. Why not try to innovate there somehow? Can rollaboards go under our seats perhaps, with smaller items in a compartment directly overhead above each seat?

Quite.

TBH, I'm increasingly coming round to the way of thinking that the best way of boarding is a free-for-all. It's not particularly pleasant, particularly if you have bags to stow, but the fastest turnarounds I've seen have used this method, combined with strategically placed cabin crew to help out or gently hurry along people who may take a little longer putting bags away.

Actually, some of the worst boarding delays I've seen have been with front-and-rear boarding. It starts off well, but then just needs one person to go through the wrong doors to cause a backup as they meet people coming the other way. Then you run out of overhead storage space, and people are forced to head to the middle (or opposite end) to seek it out...

(Old DOH used to be awful for this, not least because they never bothered to tell you that the bus was making two stops at the aircraft...)

So, what happens when someone, or multiple people, are running late from a connecting flight and then shows up after their designated boarding slot?

The fastest boarding I've ever seen was on a Q400 from PDL-TER, which had no assigned seating and boarding from both front and rear from the tarmac. Roughly 50 people boarded in maybe 5 minutes. Free checked bags also helped, as no one was trying to hoist a steamer trunk into the overhead.

Why is there such a concern with reduced boarding times/ I remember before we got into all this LCC stuff that you would have 45 minutes to get on teh plane, and there was never this big rush. You had time to settle in, they even used to give you drinks in coach!

The biggest issue with boarding is overhead bin space. People rush to get on first so they can get a space to store their luggage. Simple math dictates that at 31in for 3 passengers per row, someone is not going to get their suitcase on board. I have wondered if anyone tried the idea of substituting one row of seats with a luggage locker how much quicker boarding would be.

That's because passengers are bussed to the plane.
The best way to speed up boarding is the way it's done in SIN/CMB etc.
Scan the boarding pass, go into a holding pen. Within 30 minutes of departure, open the doors.
Of course our airports aren't set up for that.

It isn't about the passengers as much as about aircraft utilization. Every minute a plane sits on the ground is a minute is isn't up the air earning money.

I'd go with back to front every other row as long as they also installed automatic overhead bin openers so they'd only open when your row was boarding. No way am I going to sit in a premium seat after all the overhead bin space has been taken by earlier boarders.

often with tarmac board and de-board both doors are used. not strictly with germany but in many places in europe

Board in 1/5th the time
 

is boarding time really what is gating on time departure? sends the flight crew still has plenty to do even when folks are on board (weight and balance I assume isn't performed on larger aircraft)