Physicist Cuts Plane Boarding Time in Half

September 6, 2011
miproconsulting
News

Fermilab astrophysicist Jason Steffen got to thinking about an everyday problem we all can agree needs some brianpower applied to it: how to make passengers board airplanes more efficiently. By design, he thought, passenger jets seem to encourage people to waste time. How to fix it?

After a bit of tinkering, Steffen found a way:

Steffen considered various methods, such as boarding people in blocks, at random, and in window seats first. He set up a model using an algorithm based on the Monte Carlo optimization method used in statistics and mathematics.

He found that the most efficient boarding method is to board alternate rows at a time, beginning with the window seats on one side, then the other, minimizing aisle interference. The window seats are followed by alternate rows of middle seats, then aisle seats. He also found that boarding at random is faster that boarding by blocks.

Steffen’s results were published in the Journal of Air Transport Management in 2008. Needless to say, his suggestions haven’t been implemented — yet. Given the cost savings that are associated with this method’s increased efficiency, I can’t imagine this will be ignored for much longer.

Here’s a video of the ‘Steffen Method’ of onboarding: