Window seat passengers should load first then middle seat, then aisle seats
Jeff Lewis - 12 years ago
Back to front should be the maximally efficient way to board a plane, but it fails for four reasons - all of which can be fixed:
1. First class and priority passengers are seated first. Since they're at the front of the plane, they break the pattern. All of the following passengers have to get past them first. Two solutions: hold first class and priority passengers to the end and give them a special boarding area to sit in that's more comfortable than the regular customer waiting area... or move first class the back of the plane.
2. Passengers are boarded from the back, but in clusters. That causes tangles in groups. Solution? Board by row exclusively and have a steward on the plane signal when the current row is seated.
3. Passengers who arrive late get lumped in with each successive group. Similar problem as 2, but worse because the number of stragglers accumulates with each group. Solution: if you haven't boarded within your group, you wait until everyone else has boarded.
4. Luggage. The airlines have dug their own grave on this one. By trying to eke out extra revenue on checked in luggage - and by not having a 100% reliable, safe and speedy luggage system, they encourage passengers to maximise their carry on. Wise passengers try to keep ALL their luggage as carry on since it means they're ready to go the minute they hit the landing gate and they know they won't lose anything. It also means everyone is lugging far too much carry on and struggling with it, slowing down everyone else. Solution: fix the problem with checkin luggage and introduce cabin luggage handling similar to that used on smaller jets like Canadair where passenger's larger carry on is placed in a sub-hold and returned to the passenger as they leave the plane, rather than making the trip to the baggage claim.
Kyle - 12 years ago
Planes should be designed like subway cars with multiple doors that passengers, once cleared at the gate, can board through and get them closer to their assigned seat.
Window seat passengers should load first then middle seat, then aisle seats
Back to front should be the maximally efficient way to board a plane, but it fails for four reasons - all of which can be fixed:
1. First class and priority passengers are seated first. Since they're at the front of the plane, they break the pattern. All of the following passengers have to get past them first. Two solutions: hold first class and priority passengers to the end and give them a special boarding area to sit in that's more comfortable than the regular customer waiting area... or move first class the back of the plane.
2. Passengers are boarded from the back, but in clusters. That causes tangles in groups. Solution? Board by row exclusively and have a steward on the plane signal when the current row is seated.
3. Passengers who arrive late get lumped in with each successive group. Similar problem as 2, but worse because the number of stragglers accumulates with each group. Solution: if you haven't boarded within your group, you wait until everyone else has boarded.
4. Luggage. The airlines have dug their own grave on this one. By trying to eke out extra revenue on checked in luggage - and by not having a 100% reliable, safe and speedy luggage system, they encourage passengers to maximise their carry on. Wise passengers try to keep ALL their luggage as carry on since it means they're ready to go the minute they hit the landing gate and they know they won't lose anything. It also means everyone is lugging far too much carry on and struggling with it, slowing down everyone else. Solution: fix the problem with checkin luggage and introduce cabin luggage handling similar to that used on smaller jets like Canadair where passenger's larger carry on is placed in a sub-hold and returned to the passenger as they leave the plane, rather than making the trip to the baggage claim.
Planes should be designed like subway cars with multiple doors that passengers, once cleared at the gate, can board through and get them closer to their assigned seat.