Optimizing Boarding

Reston: Matt Biddulph turned me onto Sept 09 article in Wired about better boarding algorithms for airlines, and it seems my hunch for what is called reverse pyramid — boarding window seats and middle seats in the back, then window seats and middle seats in the middle, and aisle seats in the back, leading to the aisle seats in the front being filled last — is likely the best:

[from Airlines Try Smarter Boarding by Dave Demerjian]

[…]

Villalobos and van den Briel presented America West with a boarding approach called the reverse pyramid that calls for simultaneously loading an aircraft from back to front and outside in. Window and middle passengers near the back of the plane board first; those with aisle seats near the front are called last. “Our research showed that this method created the fewest incidents of interference between passengers,” Villalobos explains, “and was therefore the fastest.”

US Airways’ Lindemann says the airline has enjoyed significant improvements since implementing the reverse pyramid in 2003, including a 21 percent decrease in departure delays in the first three months following the system’s launch, and a two-minute reduction in average boarding time.

So.. why don’t they all do it?

This reminds me of the cultural stupidity in American football, where for decades coaches were afraid to go for it on the 3rd down, and kicked instead. When someone (who was it?) finally got around to examining the actual statistics, going for it turned out to be much better that coaches seemed to believe.

So much of what we need to do is cultural: getting the folks on the plane to accept a new way of doing things so that — in aggregate — we are better off.

Note that the article doesn’t touch on what’s the best method for exiting the plane: the assumption being that the current cultural norm — closest to the front exits first — will continue. Personally, I think the flight attendants should carefully manage the exiting process to maximize flow, instead of standing back and letting us do whatever.

This also reminds me of the toilet seat question, where I have definitively proved that we should leave the seat wherever it is when we are done (see Should The Seat Be Up Or Down?), another cultural conundrum.