Re:The Dumb Way We Board Airplanes Remains Impervious to Goo...
by brc on Thursday May 08, 2014 @08:53PM
(#7718692)
Virgin Australia domestic planes sometimes board without jetways (even in airports with jetways). I believe this is to save on landing fees. When they do this, they open front and back doors with stairs. These planes board significantly faster than using a jetway and single door, even accounting for people having to go down stairs and across the tarmac.
> Nobody boards back to front.
Just to add weight to this, I've flown on at least United, American, Delta, and Southwest, and in my experience, none of them board back-to-front. These are the very airlines mentioned in the article!
> (From the article) United uses an “outside-in” boarding process by which people with window seats board ahead of those on the aisle.
I doubt this as well.
The only thing I've found that does speed up boarding is that some (rare) airports support jetways with two doors: one for the front of the plane, and one for the back. (Albany is the only airport I know of.) Getting on/off the back is significantly quicker in my experience. (Practically no waiting, between the gate and the seat. There's still the line at the gate, of course.)