Am I the only one who thinks this is an ineffective method of boarding?

If all passengers stopped acting like children for five minutes, paid attention, and actually followed the instructions they were given, onboarding would probably work a lot more effectively.

Just turn the plane around.

Everyone agrees but the airlines want to optimize for revenue over efficiency in this case. Specifically: checked baggage fees If they loaded back to front, it would be chaos for overhead bins on full flights

The ineffective part is the people, that's the problem. No matter the pattern you choose, people will still people...loudly.

It doesn't work because people are retarded. I literally get to my seat. Put my bag up and sit in a few seconds. I don't understand why it's so dam slow. Same with getting off the plane

credit: IG @aviationtrack

Back to front would tend to increase the tipping risk. Planes have to maintain centre of gravity over the wheels, but if e.g. there's fuel in aft tanks, loads of baggage at the aft of the bay, and then a bunch of people rush to the back with bags it becomes a safety headache.

Start from the back, first class can still get royalty treatment by serving them preferred drinks at the terminal, just have reserved seating for them. Then they board last. They have to dump drinks before takeoff anyway, now they get longer time.

The people rushing to be the first in never made sense to me either. As long as I have a seat and a place for my bag all good. I’d rather be last.

Most efficient is Window, then Middle, then Aisle. The problem is the people don't try to be efficient and courteous when boarding and are in their own little world taking their sweet time as if its their plane....these are the same people who stand in line at the Wendy's for 5 minutes but don't look at the menu while in line to determine their order until they are at the counter and the cashier asks what they want.

meanwhile - Ryanair

Let FC board first. Then board from the rear forward. Let wheelchairs and little kids on last.

the goal is for the ineffeciency, as the ground crew still needs to load your shit into the plane, and do other things aswell. having people just sitting idly at the gate breeds discontent and disatisfaction. same reason elevators have mirrors.

It’s driven by money, not efficiency

Business class, we board first, so everyone can passby and watch us drink champagne

The real reason passengers are loaded front to rear is for load balance. Loading the rear first can and has lead to the forward landing gear lifting off the apron tarmac.

It is an interesting topic that reminds me of this video.

Ineffective, yes. But, as a high paying customer in first class I would like to put my bags up in the overhead and get a cocktail and relax while everyone else boards.

Correct pattern / order should be; Window seats - red Centre seats - yellow Aisle seats - green The hold up occurs when people don’t know where their seats are and have to ask a passenger to stand and hold the queue for them to get to the window / centre seat.

It is the people, follow these two:

There are more efficient in plane seating strategies but all the gains and more are wiped out organising the passengers at the terminal to follow them.

I'm that one dot who remains at the terminal until there are no other dots in the jetway and just before the door closes.

If it wasn't for overhead storage space they would change it.

For all the evolution we say we have, we are a class conscious people

As someone who just experienced this firsthand in the last 24hrs, it is atrocious! Each flight, boarding and deplaning, took over 30 mins. And there were two clear reasons - passengers and carry ons. Passengers are assholes! Don’t wait until you’re on the plane to take things out and put things in your carry on, so much of this. And every single flight we were on they were having to gate check a dozen or more bags because there wasn’t enough room. If airlines stop charging so much for checked bags, you won’t have a carry on for each passenger.

yes we need this

Efficiency would also require the attention and organization of the public. You really think you are going to be able to the pajama/headphone crowd to queue up properly?

They can keep their special humans to board last really.. it’s not like there’s something important they do ..

It is made ineffective so the wealthy dont have to wait

Can't put people in the back first, some planes will tip over if you do that.

yes, we need a new method

I prefer to board last to have more time in the terminal. Avoiding the commotion and people bumping past me. I sit down and then the planes moving. How is that not better?

It is. We don't care.

It’s 2026 and having one way to board a plane is crazy inefficient. @elonmusk can we make sure we have multiple ways to board/unboard Starship for point-to-point flights on Earth?