A faster way of boarding planes

Economist : A Fermilab astrophysicist has used his analytical skills to come up with a more efficient way to board planes. Most people are familiar with the usual holdups when boarding: waiting for the person ahead to stow his or her luggage, and having to dislodge seated passengers to get to a center or window seat. Jason Steffen’s method minimizes the former and eliminates the latter. He proposes boarding passengers in all the window seats first, then center, then aisle, starting at the back of the plane and moving forward, and boarding by alternate rows, so passengers are spaced far enough apart to stow their luggage at the same time. In tests conducted by Steffen and Hollywood producer Jon Hotchkiss, Steffen’s method took half the time of the current block boarding method used by most airlines, in which passengers are assigned to groups or zones within the cabin. Now all he has to do is persuade the airlines to adopt it. Steffen has published his findings in the Journal of Air Transport Management.