The television show MythBusters has an episode called Airplane Boarding. During this episode six different boarding methods are explored to find the ones that have the best satisfaction and lowest time.
For realism the team use real seats, real cabin crew and proper overhead lockers. In addition, 5% of passengers are instructed to sit in the wrong seat or do other things to delay people.
Customer satisfaction is measured in a simple manner. A positive experience receives 1 point, neutral receives 0 and negative receives -1 point. Let’s have a look at it.
MythBusters Try WILMA
Who is Wilma? This is an acronym which describes a method where window seats are boarded first, then middle, then the aisle. This handy graphic from the episode shows the order. Customer satisfaction using this method is quite high.
Random Boarding and Reverse Pyramid
Random boarding which is sometimes used by low cost carriers is easily the fastest boarding method. Interestingly it also has the lowest customer satisfaction of all which is probably why carriers like Ryanair have abandoned it.
The Current Method Is The Slowest
In common use today is boarding by zones. First / Business class board first, then the aircraft is boarded by zones from the rear. This is by far the slowest of the six methods tested in the episode, which you can see in the table below.
Watch MythBusters Airplane Boarding
If you wish to watch the episode it is available on YouTube below and I think anyone who is a frequent flyer or interested in aviation would like to check it out. (Edit 21/09/2020: It’s not there anymore, so here’s a clip!)
The show always does its best to ensure the conditions are as real as possible and that all permutations are attempted. In this case the myth that boarding back to front is the slowest is confirmed.
Overall Thoughts
Customer dissatisfaction with the free seating method is obvious in the test and as mentioned airlines like Ryanair no longer use this method of boarding. Considering the high customer satisfaction of WILMA and the Reverse Pyramid, how come they are not used?
It could be argued that people would not like a new and unfamiliar method but people adapt. Before the advent of low cost carriers, free seating was unfamiliar and people got with the programme.
An issue with WILMA and the Reverse Pyramid is that people travelling together are separated during boarding. The customer satisfaction scores under test conditions show all is well but it would be interesting to see under real world conditions.
What do you think? Should airlines be trying a boarding method that gives a higher customer satisfaction? Is the current method just fine? Leave your comments below and thanks for reading!
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Stills from MythBusters Episode 222: Airplane Boarding, produced by Beyond Productions Pty. Ltd. for The Discovery Channel. Thanks also to the MythBusters Results web site.
Back to front makes sense; However WMA separates people traveling together who are seated in the same row; Consider people with Children also.
Yes, that is very true indeed!
Mythbusters missed something critical as to why these faster methods aren’t adopted by the mainline US carriers for domestic US travel.
The critical issue is carry-on baggage and it is very much related to the status issue already discussed by some of the others. Business travelers (the ones most likely to have status) don’t want to check baggage. This has nothing to do with the baggage fees charged by the airlines and everything to do with the time it takes to collect checked baggage at the end of the flight. These travelers don’t have to pay the baggage fees to begin with by virtue of their status or the fact that it is their companies and not themselves personally that would have to pay them. (A side issue is that the business traveler also doesn’t want to take a risk that he might misconnect with his bag).
The problem is that unless you board early, you aren’t getting your bag on board. This is especially true because leisure travelers – those without status – have to pay to check a bag and don’t have to pay to carry on a bag. It is rare indeed that you would get much past the first non-priority zone before the overheads are all full and they begin requiring all bags to be checked. These business travelers also want to sit nearer the front of the plane (where there are the first class seats or the seats that have extra leg room on American, Delta, or United) both because this allows for a more comfortable ride and they get to exit the plane quicker.
So the mainline US carriers may tweak how they board, but they can’t do anything too radical because it doesn’t address this critical issue of carryon baggage. Delta has recently experimented with pre-boarding carryon baggage.
Again in the US – the baggage policies of Southwest (checked baggage are free), Spirit (carry-on baggage costs more) – are designed to limit the number of carryon baggage as baggage is the primary cause of boarding delays. The famous Southwest 20 minute turn-around would be impossible if it charged for checked luggage.
You make a number of excellent points there. You are completely correct that you need to get on early in order to ensure your bag has space in the overheads. I guess we’re stuck with the way it currently is, despite what best practice may be. The current method may well be best practice when all is factored in.
I wasn’t aware that Delta was experimenting with pre-boarding carry on baggage. How does that work? British Airways let those who check in a carry on board first – even before First Class and elites. It encourages people to check bags and as they’re on first with no carry on luggage, it does not hamper anyone. Theoretically.
It is interesting that Southwest has free baggage. It’s certainly a point of differentiation now. Thanks for your thoughtful comment!
Throw in passengers with status/priority boarding privileges and it complicates it further. Its not uncommon to see folks with some kind of boarding privilege outnumber the “general population”.
Plus pax with babies/toddlers/elders, pax with disability, pax who paid for cabin luggage, etc….
Oh the MythBusters episode still lets people pre-board as far as I remember, so that covers most of that. Who pays for cabin luggage?! Well I guess you do on Wow once it’s over a certain size. It’s why I have no intention of flying them…
Yes, Priority Boarding is the biggest sham of a perk offered in frequent flyer programmes when it becomes 60% of the flight. It’s the best “cost nothing” perk for an airline. You are correct, it would change things… so, eliminate PB. I can hear the howls of protest now…
This all presumes passengers can understand boarding instructions. Vast majority of my flights I can barely discern what the gate agents are saying due to thick accents and/or lousy speaker systems making it nigh impossible to understand anything.
Sure, Adam says in the episode that he is having to be very clear with his boarding instructions. It would probably make sense to have a pre-recorded announcement if possible, that is the only way to ensure it is clear. Also, the information on how to board could be printed on the boarding pass and check-in and bag drop staff could bring people’s attention to it. I don’t think it is impossible. Thanks for the comment!