The Better Boarding Method Airlines Won't Use

I feel like he wrote this script while waiting to board a plane.

"The human inability to follow instructions is breathtaking". That aged well.

If you wanted the slowest possible method of boarding, front to back seems decent enough, but doing the Steffen method in reverse seems ideal. Front to back, don't alternate, seated from the aisles out to the window. Maximises seat shuffling, minimises pullaways and parallels. Call it the Steffen Corrupted.

Having worked in aviation for years (cabin crew for many) I can’t even begin to explain how badly normal people who ordinarily excel in everyday life seem to completely loose all sense of intelligence the moment the enter an airport.

“to achieve this ballet, there are no boarding groups…” magnificent

"The human inability to follow instructions is breathtaking."

As an airline pilot let me give you my 2 cents. Passengers don't slow down loading, cargo baggage does. The time it takes to get people's bags under the aircraft takes forever. The passenger will actually board before their bag goes through all the extra security on it's way to the plane.

As an airline pilot, I can say that the turnaround time is not normally limited by passenger boarding or deplaning. The refueling and cargo/bag loading take longer and limit the time. My opinion is that fewer rules to follow will give customers less to worry about.

Have the flight attendant crack a whip every time someone takes more than 5 seconds putting in their luggage

I liked the hand sanitizer after the high fives at 2:00.

You forgot to factor in the limited overhead storage that the rear passengers use in the front as they pass by. Thereby making front passengers look for space further in and then have to swim back upstream against the traffic flow to get to their seat.

Shout out to the guys who only bring 1 bag and literally sit in their seat and then slide the backpack under their seat. You are Steffen Perfect

I have flown a lot in my 58 years and I will say the real problem began when airlines started charging extra for luggage. Suddenly everyone had carry-ons and this slowed boarding down dramatically. I remember the day when the only thing I took on the plane was my handbag, which I stowed under the seat in front of me after I was seated.

“You cant just open the boarding gate and let everyone flock in like cattle” UK: watch

i just went on a flight recently and they said: “boarding groups 1-4, 5, 6, everyone get on” and it was the fastest i’ve ever gotten on a plane and it made me think of this haha

When boarding a domestic flight in Australia, as you enter the aerobridge, there is a sign which directs rows 1-15 to continue along the aerobridge and board the aircraft through the front door, and rows 15+ to walk down the stairs out onto the apron and board using the rear stairs, filling the plane from both ends.

Actually, the first encounter I ever had with boarding groups was on a flight to the US. All flights I have had before, mainly in Europe, were what you describe as: "Hey guys, plane's ready."

This video is definitely a curse, every single time I am waiting to leave a plane It will pop into my mind as I wait far too long for people in front of me to leave

It is funny to think that no boarding system at all is superior to every boarding system used by airlines today.

Can I volunteer an idea to help with human’s inability to follow instructions ? It’s the fact that when people don’t know you’re breaking a rule, it’s much easier to break it. An example is people boarding the plane although it’s not their group’s turn. In comparison, when plane staff calls people group by group to UNBOARD the plane (row 1 to 15, 15 to 30 and so on), people tend to follow that rule much more, otherwise it’s OBVIOUS they’re braking it and are trying to take advantage of the system and go past people they were not meant to. SO an idea would be to make rule breaking obvious from the start, for example by printing boarding passes of different colors, and calling them out by colors (« we now invite passengers with a RED ticket to board the plane »). This would draw attention to the ticket’s color which is obvious to everyone, and people couldn’t hope that the front desk staff will « not notice » that they’re from another group. In my mind, it works !