Info 202 Fall 2011

They say time is money. Sometimes it can feel like that adage never rings truer than at an airport, specifically the tenuous boarding process.  Passengers never fail to queue up behind people stowing their carry-on or clog the aisle to let someone take a window seat.  The Economist states that, "...every minute a plane  spends at the terminal costs $30."  Obviously this translates to tons of money over time and raises the questions...Why is such a technologically advanced industry still in the dark ages when it comes to boarding?  Isn't there a more efficient way to get us all on our way? 

  

Recently, an astrophysicist named Jason Steffen took on the challenge of designing a more organized system of boarding a plane.  His answer was relatively simple, it involved boarding people in groups by where your seat is (window, middle, aisle) and making sure to alternate rows so that everyone had ample time and space to stow bags.  Test results showed that this simple solution was twice as fast as conventional boarding for a 12 row layout, and could save even more time in larger plane configurations.  This solution could also be implemented at the boarding gate, where passengers are already herded into crude boarding zones as it is. A gate attendant could easily spend a little extra time pointing out the semantics, conversely the information could be printed out on a boarding pass and passengers would organize themselves once they became familiar enough with the system. 

Assuming airlines implement Steffen's system, which they have yet to embrace, it would be interesting to see if it could be refined to incorporate other variables, such as how to deal with families traveling with small children or special needs and handicap passengers.  Currently these passengers preboard before the general public, but one could make the case that they should board last since they can often take the longest.  Once everyone is on board though, could there be a better way to get off?