Scientist finds solution: five times quicker boarding

Boarding a plane can be time-consuming and can sometimes cause delays. Though airlines have managed to save some time over the years – for example by boarding row by row, starting at the back of the plane – scientist kept looking for alternatives. Jason Steffen, an astrophysicist at Northwestern University, found one that is five times faster.

At the university in Evanston, Illinois, Steffen analysed the problem: only one person at a time can put their carry-ons in the correct overhead bin. Just a couple people standing behind them (their seat partners) can block the overhead bins of several rows of passengers.

Steffen’s solution is in rearranging seat numbers. He found an optimal boarding solution, confirmed by repeated computer simulations, which allows planes to be boarded at least five times faster than back-to-front methods. He revealed to BigThink.com: “The first person in line should be in the back row, window seat (on either side of the plane). The next person would be in a window seat, two rows up. The line should proceed this way, skipping a row between each window-seated passenger all the way to the front of the plane."

There are still some small problems to be solved as people tend to travel in groups of two or more. Splitting up parents travelling with small children is not a popular measure. Another problem: a crowd in an airport terminal, anxious to get on board, is not likely to follow complicated instructions like Steffen’s solution seems to imply.

Further reading on bigthink.com