Paradox of boarding a plane
The seemingly logical way of getting on an aircraft is not the fastest
Have you ever been in a queue to get on a plane and thought, there must be a better way to do this?
Well, the good news is that there is. The bad news is, you’re probably not going to like it.
Adam Savage, the long-time co-host of Mythbusters, recently shed light on the surprisingly complex world of airline boarding arrangements, drawing insights from what he calls a “spectacular episode” of the show about this very topic.
His observations, made on his Tested YouTube site, reveal a fascinating tension between efficiency and passenger psychology.
Savage notes that United Airlines is considering implementing a boarding method known as “Wilma”, which stands for Window, Middle, then Aisle — and he says this is definitely not the best way to do it.
The Mythbusters team enlisted five flight attendants from Southwest Airlines and about 200 people as pretend passengers. They tested many different methods, including Wilma, and came to the conclusion that the best way to do it was … randomly.
Savage says random boarding means no passenger has a seat assignment, they just get on the plane and find a seat that suits them. During their Mythbusters tests, this approach allowed them to board a plane faster than other methods.
Despite its speed, Americans “hate that boarding method”, Savage says.
He attributes the strong dislike for random boarding to “the psychology of scarcity that is deeply embedded in American culture”. He explains that people dislike seeing others “get something we think we didn’t get” or watching somebody cut a line.
This inherent aversion to perceived unfairness or inefficiency in queues overrides the desire for overall speed.
Savage also noted that Southwest Airlines did not use random assignment; it uses “tiered boarding”.
This is a common technique where passengers are separated into groups based on certain factors — such as their status with the airline or the class they are travelling in.
While it’s not as efficient, it is popular with many airlines, including those known for their rapid turnaround at airports.
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