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Why don’t planes board in order of back seats to front?

NineConsonants

NineConsonants

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
5,210
This seems like such a no-brainer. know you can pay for early boarding, but many can't be doing that. Most get it through the ticket they buy, which is associated to better seats. Planes could board do much faster if they had people sort by their row number or at least general seat groups. Faster boarding means more flights in the same amount of time. And I imagine extra flights will be more profitable than the few who pay $35 to board faster.

I am currently waiting forever through a slow boarding process. I guess those in group 1 get the luxury of waiting for us all to deal with this slow process.
 
ascii42

ascii42

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,798
The most efficient would be taking into consideration both back to front, and window to aisle.
 
Psittacus

Psittacus

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,926
Because the whims of the moneyed classes take priority over what's best for everyone
 
oakenhild

oakenhild

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,863
The pro move is just walking on at the last moment (assuming small carry-on). Minimizes time on plane.
 
Jon Carter

Jon Carter

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,746
NineConsonants said:
Planes could board do much faster if they had people sort by their row number or at least general seat groups. Faster boarding means more flights in the same amount of time. And I imagine extra flights will be more profitable than the few who pay $35 to board faster.
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What if I told you staff wasn't just idling by as people were boarding the plane? You thought everyone involved in the preparation of the flight was just waiting for passengers to board the plane and they could just never figure out how to do it faster?
 
OP
OP
NineConsonants

NineConsonants

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
5,210
Jon Carter said:
What if I told you staff wasn't just idling by as people were boarding the plane? You thought everyone involved in the preparation of the flight was just waiting for passengers to board the plane and they could just never figure out how to do it faster?
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That's a fair point. I'm not sure how long it takes for them to load cargo. I think they usually clear the plane for take-off before boarding passengers though.
 
Rad Bandolar

Rad Bandolar

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,036
SoCal
NineConsonants said:
This seems like such a no-brainer. know you can pay for early boarding, but many can't be doing that. Most get it through the ticket they buy, which is associated to better seats. Planes could board do much faster if they had people sort by their row number or at least general seat groups. Faster boarding means more flights in the same amount of time. And I imagine extra flights will be more profitable than the few who pay $35 to board faster.

I am currently waiting forever through a slow boarding process. I guess those in group 1 get the luxury of waiting for us all to deal with this slow process.
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Those in Group 1 are getting the best overhead bin space. That's mostly what priority boarding is all about. No matter where they're seated on the plane, they're guaranteed an overhead bin, plus they can put their bags in the bins toward the front of the cabin, so they can just walk up and snag their bag on the way out.
 
Antrax

Antrax

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,261
Jon Carter said:
What if I told you staff wasn't just idling by as people were boarding the plane? You thought everyone involved in the preparation of the flight was just waiting for passengers to board the plane and they could just never figure out how to do it faster?
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This is the answer.

Boarding time is also fuel, baggage, pilot needs to shit, etc...time. Once the airlines realized they largely had that time taken away no matter what, they started selling the priority boarding.
 
Slappy White

Slappy White

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,205
I'm paying these exorbitant prices so I can sit on the plane first and watch all the poor people walk past me while I laugh at them.
 
LukeOP

LukeOP

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,749
as long as the back gets to leave first as well. I don't mind moving business and first class to the back.
 
Goodlifr

Goodlifr

Member
Nov 6, 2017
1,885
Never used to get priority boarding.
Until I started working away and commuted by plane on a weekly basis.

You get on towards the end, there's no space in locker, so you need to check your bag on (which first means taking your laptop etc out, so you can do some work on the plane).
When you get to the other side, you then have to wait for your bag to come off... It might only add 15 mins, but that makes a difference when you're rushing to get into the office at a sensible time... Boss pulls you up on it, you end up having to come up the Sunday night, meaning one less night at home, etc etc.

So paying a few quid to make sure you have overhead locker space is very much worth it.
 
pg2g

pg2g

Member
Dec 18, 2018
4,779
I still think they shoukd charge for overhead bin access and make checked bags free, lol.
 

Min

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,066
To further the point I don't really understand why anyone would want to be seated first. Hooray, you get to settle into a stuffy tube for the next few hours early, and then sit there and wait for the next hour before take off. I'd rather wait until the last possible minutes before take off to board.
 

ChrisJSY

Member
Oct 29, 2017
2,053
NineConsonants said:
That's a fair point. I'm not sure how long it takes for them to load cargo. I think they usually clear the plane for take-off before boarding passengers though.
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Also cleaning the interior of the plane (floors/seats/replacing headrest covers etc etc), because like that cinema thread about people cleaning up for themselves, way too many people are complete shit stains on society and create extra work like this. Don't forget lost items, restocking the galley, refuel, preflight planning etc.

Also that video linked assumes everyone is ready to go in a endless, orderly line without gaps in the right order, in a perfect world this will not happen.
Sorting people by their method would require calling people out by number and If you've ever been anywhere in real life where people are called by number you will know this isn't going to work. I used to go to mcdonalds more than I'd like to let on but holy shit the amount of times people repeat calling out numbers and some dumb fuck is just standing there gawping into thin air, or their phone. Especially irritating knowing my food is on the tray behind them ready to be called out and I'm just thinking to myself, dude just ignore the people not picking up and move on.

Imagine this for planes.
 
flook

flook

Member
Oct 28, 2017
966
I flew out of Arrife with Jet2 last week. There were no steps at the back of the plane and at boarding we were split in to 3 groups to board in order of back to front. I didn't seem to be much quicker but it didn't seem any slower considering there was only once entrance in use. So i guess they sometimes do OP.
 
Umbrella Carp

Umbrella Carp

Banned
Jan 16, 2019
3,265
Because then the asshole who is late and holding the whole plane up is then rewarded with the best seats
 
MrKlaw

MrKlaw

Member
Oct 25, 2017
33,026
They should reduce hand luggage size. Especially now more airlines charge for hold luggage, people are bringing huge trolley bags which fill their entire rows overhead space screwing others over. Either increase overhead space or halve hand luggage allowance (plus bag under your seat)
 
Illenium

Illenium

Member
Aug 7, 2019
728
Trouble said:
Fuck those people. Nothing I love more than having to put my bag above a row behind me because some dickhead did that.
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or people who literally used a whole spot for their large Sun hat and/or a shopping bag, OR people who can literally fit their carry on underneath them.

I remember recently when I traveled, my parents bags literally had to go 4 rows back. It's the worst when it comes to exiting the plane too, having to go backwards in between all these people just to go back forward.
 
Brakke

Brakke

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
3,798
The airport thing that only I care about is the checked bag carousels. Everyone crowds right up against the carousel with their thumbs up their ass, effectively devouring the scarce resource of access to the belt.

If everyone just took two steps back from the carousel, you'd increase the total perimeter and people could easily step forward whenever their bag was actually on the belt. Instead I gotta shoulder past clowns and then wallop them with my bag as I'm tryna hoist it.
 
Window

Window

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,282
They do on international flights, except business class of course but that's usually not a problem because they have a separate entry point.
 
Yahsper

Yahsper

Member
Oct 29, 2017
1,519
That's how they do it in Japan for domestic flights, at least when I was there in 2016. Very practical and fast.
 
fulltimepanda

fulltimepanda

Member
Oct 28, 2017
5,777
They did this in Japan and South Korea when I was there.

I couldn't tell in South America (I was flying Latam), I thought thats what the grouping numbers were about but when you get on the plane there are people sitting everywhere.
 
Horo

Horo

Banned
Nov 17, 2017
590
The mythbusters actually tested this, and found out that back-to-front was actually by far the worst method.

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Linkura

Linkura

Member
Oct 25, 2017
19,943
JetBlue seems to do this except for priority customers (even more space, kids, disabilities, frequent flyer).
 
Keldroc

Keldroc

Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,968
Tochtli79 said:
I recently spent the boarding time during a trip thinking about this issue and I'm glad to see I came to the correct conclusion, window to aisle should be standard.
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It can't be, because it would require splitting families up from their children. As he says in the video, it's an ideal but impossible to implement solution.
 
Grouch Douglass

Grouch Douglass

Banned
Nov 9, 2017
3,777
I get claustrophobic on planes so I am happy to hear people don't like the aisle seats. Plus its easier to go to the bathroom.
 
I Don't Like

I Don't Like

Member
Dec 11, 2017
14,882
Not sure that's a "no-brainer" since you're sending a bunch of people to the same section of the plane, let's say the back to start, and they're all trying to get around each other and put shit in the same bins and stuff, where-as if you split what would be that group into people sitting in the back, middle and front, then it's fewer people in each section so should be able to get shit in overheads and seated faster. I kind of figured that was the whole point of using the group method.
 
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