Details? I hope to have the pleasure of flying them some day.
Back to front. On their wide body jets with 2 aisles it's a thing of beauty how fast they board the plane.
International flights leaving the us typically require 45 minutes to board. Lufthansa does it in 30.
Back to front. On their wide body jets with 2 aisles it's a thing of beauty how fast they board the plane.
International flights leaving the us typically require 45 minutes to board. Lufthansa does it in 30.
You need to get over the whole outside to in part of it. It's just not that important.
Dr. Jason Steffen, an astrophysicist at Fermilab, came up with a method he claimed could cut airplane boarding times drastically about two years ago. More recently, he tested several different methods of boarding, complete with video: Boarding as we do it now (blocks of fliers, boarding from the back of the plane to the front), compared with a random boarding system and a careful one of his own design. Those three methods, by the way, are in ascending order of effectiveness.
Steffen found that simply letting passengers board at random would actually be faster than boarding in the strict blocks we're all used to. That method tends to create bottlenecks, because there's limited room to be storing items in the overhead bin, and everyone is trying to do it at the same time in the same area of the plane. Steffen's method is much more organized, relying more on row number and seat (window, middle, or aisle) than general area of the plane. The plan:
First, passengers sitting in the window seats on one side of the plane all board at once, in alternating rows (row 1, 3, 5, etc.). Then the same is done on the other side of the plane. Then the middle seats, still in alternating rows, boards on the first side of the plane. That continues with the other side's middle seats, then (first one and then the other) aisle seats. Then, do it all again for the even-numbered rows.
There's actually been studies on this, and the "Steffen Method" of staggered boarding was proven to be the most efficient.
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-08/fermilab-astrophysicist-devises-method-cuts-plane-boarding-times-half
People would riot because they wouldn't get to board with their family.
Did you watch the video? Families board first. Just extend the small children rule to minors. Yes, chicks may freak out if they can't board with their man, but they'll get over it.
The article was in 2011. Families board first policies were still common and I think back to front was more common as well.
I'm in there probably 5 minutes, walls touching both elbows, with the door locked-occupied sign clearly on, yet I still get 3 sesperate knocks. As I open the door there is a middle age lady nearly blocking me from leaving, I have to give her the stink eye and straddle my way past because she won't move 1 extra foot away from the door to let me pass.