Looking for the Fastest Way to Board a Plane? Better Ask An Astrophysicist
Jason Steffen
After enduring one too many maddeningly slow boarding experiences  Jason Steffen a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Nevada Las Vegas  began digging into the unexpectedly complicated mechanics of efficiently ushering passengers onto planes.
In 2008   Steffen  created a computer simulation to evaluate existing boarding methods and ultimately design what  he  claims is the most efficient option for getting restless passengers into their seats. The results were published several years ago in the Journal of Air Transport Management (summarized here).
In  his  research   Steffen  identified the two most common factors responsible for slowing the boarding process to a painful crawl:
In fact  the most routine boarding process â from back to front â is actually the slowest of them all   Steffen âs argues  Itâs even less efficient than boarding a plane in a completely random order.
 Steffen  claims that  his  proposed method  which minimizes the former issue and eliminates the latter  could significantly reduce boarding times  thus cutting down on overall door-to-door flight lengths  and ultimately saving airlines hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
After enduring one too many maddeningly slow boarding experiences   [TGT]  a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Nevada Las Vegas  began digging into the unexpectedly complicated mechanics of efficiently ushering passengers onto planes.
In 2008   Steffen  created a computer simulation to evaluate existing boarding methods and ultimately design what  he  claims is the most efficient option for getting restless passengers into their seats. The results were published several years ago in the Journal of Air Transport Management (summarized here).
In  his  research   Steffen  identified the two most common factors responsible for slowing the boarding process to a painful crawl:
In fact  the most routine boarding process â from back to front â is actually the slowest of them all   Steffen âs argues  Itâs even less efficient than boarding a plane in a completely random order.
 Steffen  claims that  his  proposed method  which minimizes the former issue and eliminates the latter  could significantly reduce boarding times  thus cutting down on overall door-to-door flight lengths  and ultimately saving airlines hundreds of millions of dollars a year.