Attention airlines: Please don't board by rows

[scanhorse]

A SCIENTIST has proven what veteran business travellers long suspected: boarding planes by row is a terrible idea (PDF). Jason Steffen, who works at the Fermilab Center for Particle Astrophysics, conducted an experiment in which he asked 72 "passengers"—luggage and all—to board a Boeing 757 using several different methods.
(The Economist covered Dr Steffen's experiment in the print paper this week, and my colleague linked to that article on Thursday, but I would like to express some scepticism about the usefulness of Dr Steffen's findings. Anyway, please read on.)


more.........................

http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2011/09/boarding-planes-efficiently?

[scanhorse]

Boarding passengers on commercial flights not quite rocket science, but...

but astrophysicist gives it a go

Multiple methods on how to best load passengers, but most approaches still take 20-25 minutes

Normally, he's an astrophysicist who works on a NASA project searching other galaxies for planets that might be inhabited. But when Jason Steffen waits on the gangway to board an airplane at O'Hare International Airport, he searches for an answer to every traveler's question:

Can't this line move any faster? ..........................

more...................................

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-0922-bf-aircraft-boarding-20110922,0,5143985.story