stampmypassport

I've seen it here on FT somewhere before, but can't come up with the proper search terms to locate it...

What is the name of the method/logic/whathaveyou of Zone Boarding of airplanes?

Thanks!

ContinentalFan

I am not sure if I understand the question, so forgive me if I give an answer that isn't useful. The logic behind it is to expedite equipment turnaround times. Airlines have experimented with different types of boarding patterns, but the goal is the same: get the plane into the air as quickly as possible.

Frankly, I think that Southwest's open seating works the best. There, passengers have an incentive to find a seat and occupy it as quickly as they can. With assigned seating, one can lollygag, because your real estate is secured. Southwest is abandoning its boarding method in favor of assigned seating--the carrier is expanding overseas and must have a different method.

In summary, the logic behind boarding aircraft in different zones is to turn it around faster.

tjl

However, Jet Blue and Northwest seem to be finding that calling all passengers to board at once (even with assigned seats) works better than trying to board by zones or rows.

stampmypassport

I'm sorry I didn't know how to phrase it more clearly. I understand the logic behind it. However, it seems someone made a study of it and the fact that some "zone" boarding goes back of the plane windows, middles, aisles and then front of the plane windows, middles, aisles - has a name.

redbeard911

United zones are #1 - premier and first class, #2 window, #3 middle, #4 aisle.

...or whenever you can push your way to the gate reader.

The old system was back of the plane forward. I don't know the thinking behind the change.

choster

There were a bunch of threads on boarding methodology a few months ago, sparked in some measure by http://www.wired.com/news/technology/1,70689-0.html

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=556825
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=556546
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=488796

There was also an ASU study and a Wall Street Journal article.

America West was cited as using the "reverse pyramid," which boards starting with aft window seats and fills into forward aisles, whereas United adopted "Wilma" (Windows-Middles-Aisles) years ago, and Southwest is famously open.

TrinaLC

It seems odd that with decades of experimenting with different methods, and the speed with which a computer should be able to analyze, that there continues to be no "right" method.

Logic to me says boarding rear to front, but as someone else posted, Jet Blue evidently believes the free for all to be better, and I think another airline just adopted that as well.

stampmypassport

Thank you! That was just the information I was looking for!

cur

there was a huge article about it in the NYTimes I believe

bigguyinpasadena

I find no logic at all in UA's boarding aisle passengers-regardless of location of seat-last rather than boarding back to front.And the genius that came up with this"hey-let's try something new!"stratagy should be fired.
I always request back of plane so that I have more chance of an empty seat next to me and so that I am(was?)assured of space for my single regulation sized rollaboard.This zone 4 nonsense has done away with that.

choster

The idea is to more evenly distribute people stowing bags in overheads up and down the aisle. If there are ~160 seats in economy boarded in 4 zones, better to have each batch of 40 spread out over all ~30 rows rather than clumped together fighting over 8. Put another way, the you'll be stashing your things in the compartment over your seat with 1 or 2 other people, not 5, which should mean less waiting and thus less of a problem with blocked aisles. The elites all board at once of course but in theory, they should be familiar with stowing things in overheads, and perhaps have developed a system.

In practice? Being in Zone 1 I can't tell the difference . Sometimes I think it would help having more zones, except they already call multiple zones sometimes, so it already seems like the entire universe is boarding (especially on US Airways, which gives priority boarding to holders of their credit card!).

HitAndRun

The United boarding process is called The Special Olympics.