Commercial airlines often prioritize boarding for passengers traveling with small children, or for those who need extra assistance—in other words, those likely to be slower to stow their bags and take their seats—before starting to board the faster passengers. It’s counter-intuitive, but it turns out that letting slower passengers board first actually results in a more efficient process and less time before takeoff, according to new research in ARS Technica (Jan. 15, 2020).
Physicists have been puzzling over this particular optimization problem for several years now. While passengers all have reserved seats, they arrive at the gate in arbitrary order, and over the years, airlines have tried any number of boarding strategies to make the process as efficient and timely as possible. Flight delays have a ripple effect on the complex interconnected network of air travel and often result in extra costs and disgruntled passengers.
The new study found it’s actually 28% more efficient to let slower passengers board first. As boarding progresses, those at the tail-end of the slow group will still be getting settled as the first influx of fast people begins boarding. For instance, 3 or 4 fast people might take their seats in the time it takes a single slow person near the back of the aircraft to sit down. Having all the fast people board first means the last fast passenger is already seated before the first slow passenger gets settled.
To illustrate, use the well-known analogy of trying to pack rocks and sand in a jar. Put the sand in first and there won’t be much room left for the rocks. Put the larger rocks in first, and you can then pour in plenty of sand to fill in all the gaps around the rocks. “That’s the lesson of this latest result,” said one of the researchers. “If you’re going to pour a bunch of passengers into a vessel like this, and you’re dividing them up into slow people versus fast people, it’s better to get the slow people out of the way first and then let the fast people trickle in.”
Classroom discussion questions:
- What other approaches have airlines attempted to speed boarding?
- What process analysis tools discussed in Ch.7 of your Heizer/Render/Munson text do you think could be used to tackle this problem?