Why don’t they board planes back to front?

[Anonymous]

Surely there is a better way than this ridiculous way they do it.

[Anonymous]

That absolutely should. We can put people on the moon but we can't do anything to fix the chaos that is airline travel. It's ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

They used to…then they started giving boarding perks for mileage status, selling seat selection, offering discount economy which boards later, etc.

Also, you have to really crack down on people bringing oversized carryons and what not or all the overhead space will be taken before the first several rows of economy get to board.

[Anonymous]

I believe the German airlines do…back to front window to aisle.

We’re obsessed with boarding by status.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They used to…then they started giving boarding perks for mileage status, selling seat selection, offering discount economy which boards later, etc.

Also, you have to really crack down on people bringing oversized carryons and what not or all the overhead space will be taken before the first several rows of economy get to board.

Fee for carryon, free checked bags. Easy.

[Anonymous]

Because the "important" people sit in front and they want to get on first.

[Anonymous]

Actually there have a bunch of studies done that the best thing to do is board staggered rows at a time. Ie: you don’t want 25, 24, and 23 all boarding together. You want 25, 22, and 19 boarding, giving them all enough room to get situated. Then 24, 21, 18 and so on. I’m not sure of the exact spacing but it was something like this.

Anyway, no airline does it. And as someone who checks bags, don’t even get me started on the time wasted by carryon luggage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I believe the German airlines do…back to front window to aisle.

We’re obsessed with boarding by status.

Exactly.

Though I don’t really get it. I don’t travel business class often (and never first), but when I do, I wait till everyone boards before I do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They used to…then they started giving boarding perks for mileage status, selling seat selection, offering discount economy which boards later, etc.

Also, you have to really crack down on people bringing oversized carryons and what not or all the overhead space will be taken before the first several rows of economy get to board.

Fee for carryon, free checked bags. Easy.

Well OK….but no airline will do that and it will make check in a nightmare. Not to mention you need the entire industry to agree to it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually there have a bunch of studies done that the best thing to do is board staggered rows at a time. Ie: you don’t want 25, 24, and 23 all boarding together. You want 25, 22, and 19 boarding, giving them all enough room to get situated. Then 24, 21, 18 and so on. I’m not sure of the exact spacing but it was something like this.

Anyway, no airline does it. And as someone who checks bags, don’t even get me started on the time wasted by carryon luggage.

While this carry-on nonsense was started by the airlines who decided that you couldn't check bags anymore without paying a fee.

[Anonymous]

Obviously that is the most efficient approach.

However, the people who pay for first class and business class need to be made to feel special.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Actually there have a bunch of studies done that the best thing to do is board staggered rows at a time. Ie: you don’t want 25, 24, and 23 all boarding together. You want 25, 22, and 19 boarding, giving them all enough room to get situated. Then 24, 21, 18 and so on. I’m not sure of the exact spacing but it was something like this.

Anyway, no airline does it. And as someone who checks bags, don’t even get me started on the time wasted by carryon luggage.

While this carry-on nonsense was started by the airlines who decided that you couldn't check bags anymore without paying a fee.

You pay a fee to carryon your bag too. The cheapest fare doesn’t include it usually. You pay for everything one way or another; don’t be fooled. Carryon luggage is why it takes so long to get on and off planes.its also why we have so little headroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They used to…then they started giving boarding perks for mileage status, selling seat selection, offering discount economy which boards later, etc.

Also, you have to really crack down on people bringing oversized carryons and what not or all the overhead space will be taken before the first several rows of economy get to board.

Fee for carryon, free checked bags. Easy.

Well OK….but no airline will do that and it will make check in a nightmare. Not to mention you need the entire industry to agree to it.

Why would check in be a nightmare?

I think everything would operate more smoothly if people weren’t carting all their luggage all over the airport, let alone clogging up the aisles during actual boarding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because the "important" people sit in front and they want to get on first.

And by ‘important’ I think you mean loyal passengers who earned the right to have their overhead space above their seats.

Op, back to front won’t work unless the carryon policy is strictly enforced and likely associated with a fee to decrease the amount of carryons.

But, by doing that, now you’ve got more checked bags, which means more hands on labor to load/unload the carryons, increasing costs.

[Anonymous]

People in back will use all the overhead bin space. So instead, we board by "status" to ensure frequent flyers get overhead bin space.

There have been actual experiments with boarding a plane. Unexpectedly, random boarding is more efficient than back to front.