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“I would like to start boarding the plane at this time.”
you know that friendliness Boarding Announcement from the gate staff. Unfortunately, that means the next 45 minutes of your life will be disrupted. And airlines are deliberately confusing this situation so people end up paying to get an easier boarding process.
First, passengers begin to gather in gate lines, creating a bottleneck. I tell myself to sit quietly in the airport waiting room until my zone is called, but I can’t resist. Head to the scrum.
Then there is confusion about which zone passengers are assigned to.
Just because you’re in Zone 1 or Group A doesn’t mean you’ll actually be the first to board. People line up out of turn and wait for their group to be called. Some passengers cut lines to make room for carry-on bags. overhead luggage rack. Finally, your zone will be called and you can scan your ticket and board the plane.
However, don’t get too excited. Jet bridge rows are backed up. Waiting for more.
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Backup with jet bridge.
When you crawl over the jet bridge, board the planehas also been backed up.
Your seat is at the very end of the plane. You push your way through the narrow aisles until you reach that line.
If you’re lucky enough to have overhead space for your carry-on, you awkwardly toss your bag in, hoping you don’t bump into another passenger. It’s not over yet.
You tried to sit in our window seat, but someone was sitting in the middle. They must move out and into the aisle and maintain a line behind you.
“Flying is like a 21st century version of Lord of the Flies,” said Henry Harteveldt, travel industry director at Atmosphere Research Group. “The airlines created this complexity and madness.”
Explain why it has become so disorganized and why it has not become more efficient.
Panic over faster boarding and guaranteed overhead bins is not a problem for airlines. That’s a feature.
Sure, airlines could make boarding better for everyone. But the good thing for airlines is to improve boarding for only some people. People who want to give them even more money.
Airlines realized that they could make even more money for people who were willing to pay for priority boarding.
Robert Mann, an aviation consultant and former executive, said there is internal tension between airline marketing teams, which are focused on maximizing boarding revenue, and operations teams, which want to run processes more efficiently. .
Nicholas Economou/Nurfoto/Getty Images
Crowded airport, crowded boarding process.
“There’s a lot of money on the credit card and frequent flier side, so the marketers win and the operators have to deal with it,” he said.
Additionally, as airlines have improved their analytical capabilities, planes have become larger and more frequently booked. Additionally, some airlines have reduced the number of agents at the gate. More staff means more staff for airlines to pay.
Even though airlines have developed various boarding strategies and techniques over the years, the process remains a nightmare.
Baggage fees and loyalty programs
Flying on a plane hasn’t always been this complicated.
Decades ago, airlines boarded first class and used an open boarding process in the main cabin. Passengers could check their baggage for free.
But in 2008, amid soaring fuel prices, airlines Started charging passengers for checked baggage.
“That’s when things started to go off the rails,” Harteveldt said.
Passengers are now bringing more luggage with them to avoid paying the fare or to wait for baggage claim upon arrival.
“Airlines have realized they can make money on bags, so they’re losing efficiencies to make boarding faster,” said John, a professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. said Masoud Bazargan, who studies airline schedules and operations.
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Precious head space.
Airlines collected nearly $7 billion in baggage fees last year, according to the Department of Transportation.
In response to this, airlines also started selling Valuable overhead shelf space For travelers willing to pay for early boarding. Airlines also use credit cards, frequent flyer programs, loyalty program We were able to sell them all to people who wanted priority boarding. This wasn’t necessary as much before in a system that mostly worked before the industry crashed.
By 2012, airlines began introducing basic economy fares, offering priority boarding for a fee.
With all these new passenger segments created, airlines had to separate passengers at the time of boarding. Companies introduced new terminology for different boarding zones and groups, slowing down the process.
“The more zones and boarding groups you have, the longer it takes,” Bazargan said.
Changes in the airline industry aimed at improving airline profitability are also impacting boarding.
Aircraft are becoming larger and denser, cramped seats To accommodate more travelers. Flights are also often crowded, leading to crowded boarding.
The passenger occupancy rate (the ratio of passengers to available seats) was 84% last April, up from 74% in 2000, according to the Department of Transportation.
Airlines have been experimenting with different boarding schemes to speed up the process. But no one has found the optimal boarding method.
Some airlines tried to board passengers first in window seats, then middle seats, and then aisle seats known as Wilmas. But companies have abandoned this method because it breaks up families and confuses people who board late.
Boarding from back to front is also not smooth.
This method creates crowded aisles as you search for a seat and place your luggage over your head.
Jason Steffen, a physics professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, has developed a method of boarding the vehicle that places passengers in two rows.
Charlie Riedel/Associated Press
Will it ever become easier to fly? Probably not, unless you pay for it.
of Steffen method Multiple rows of passengers can check their luggage at the same time, minimizing loading time. This method can cut boarding time almost in half.
But airlines haven’t adopted it. This method requires strict quality control over where people line up and prevents boarding strategies based on traveler status.
If airlines want to speed up the boarding process, they can make baggage checks free, reduce the number of zones, and switch to open seating.
Southwest Airlines has the fastest boarding process of any major airline, simply by ensuring passengers get the first available seat. This works because passengers spend less time waiting in the aisle and are free to sit in the least crowded spots.
But airlines are unlikely to switch to Southwest’s model.
“They don’t want random seating arrangements,” Bazargan said. “They’re going to take money away from seating allocations.”