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Great video. This is one of those phenomena, like how to fix traffic jams, that everyone has an opinion on because of firsthand experience, but few people know

• wtvanhest 7y ago
  One option that isnt discussed is having the overhead bins be seperately ticketed and a box. So if you want a bin, you pay $40 and one gets asigned to you. It would streamline boarding because people would put their stuff in the bin and be done.
  • reaperducer 7y ago
    Until they don't, and then the air hostesses who are just trying to get everyone seated have to become policemen as well. They have enough to do.
    • njarboe 7y ago
      Not really any different than having assigned seats for people.
  • novok 7y ago
    Overhead bins tend to be under provisioned for the amount of passengers boarding.
    • gefh 7y ago
      Because airlines starting charging for checked bags.
  • billatq 7y ago
    Aside from it being difficult to implement, I like this idea, especially if it’s less to check. I have noticed that some airlines, Alaska for example, will give free gate checks to folks.
• reaperducer 7y ago
  although personally I've always wondered why this is desirable When I was fat, I paid extra for first class tickets so that I wouldn't be the slob jerk who overflowed into my neighbor's coach class seat. Because of that, I had a lot of coach-mindset first-class seats. Boarding first in first class gives you an opportunity to get some work done, to relax a bit before the plane takes off, and almost always you get to have a drink and a snack before the plane leaves the ground. It gives you a chance to put your head on straight for the next leg of the journey, or catch up on stuff before the ascent. If you're a busy person (as I was back then), boarding first really makes a difference.
  • ehnto 7y ago
    How much longer do you get typically? I never have to wait that long to board as economy so I am curious if my economy boarding is atypical. I could totally see how an hour sitting in first class might be nicer than poking about a terminal. Is it ever that long?
    • kshacker 7y ago
      It is not a question of how long after business does economy board. It is a question of how much after economy starts will business board if order was reversed. I have done some business travel and some premium economy travel, and I have seen airlines take 40-60 minutes from "formal" boarding time to takeoff. When they require 60 minutes, it usually is a big plane and the difference between business and economy could be 20 minutes easily (assuming the seating was reversed). I have wondered many a times if boarding last would not be better? But there is a joy to leaving the lounge and directly walking into the plane if you time it right. Otherwise you end up waiting for others to board first. Also, I could afford to be late and still get in, not so if my boarding group was the last. These are minor luxuries, but each has some value. In the bigger scheme of things, and given that it is hard to afford business travel all the time on personal dime, I would say it does not matter much :)
    • trillic 7y ago
      It really depends on the size of the airplane. Just a couple weeks ago I was one of the first 10 people to board the plane and was in "Premium Economy" on a 777-300ER for a full flight from Eastern Europe to the Midwestern US. I'd guess I was on the plane for nearly an hour before we pushed back from the gate. But this is for a plane with 300 people that boarded through a single door.
• mehrdadn 7y ago
  > personally I've always wondered why this is desirable Maybe peace of mind? One you're on the plane you know you're good to go. When you're in the terminal you have to keep diverting your attention to announcements, changes, distractions, etc.
  • sokoloff 7y ago
    It also has optionality. If you want to board first, you're welcome to. If you want to board last, you're also welcome to do that with a first-class ticket. I'm in the "board first, get it over with, get settled in" camp. My wife wants the boarding door to brush her backside as they close it. When we travel together, we don't always board together.
• s1artibartfast 7y ago
  >although personally I've always wondered why this is desirable Most people finding waiting to board unpleasant and want it over ASAP. For me personally, it is often less comfortable in the terminal for a number of reasons. The climate and noise is worse, I must keep an eye on luggage, and I have a mild anxiety about inexplicably losing my documentation or becoming too engrossed in whatever activity I am doing while I wait. Alternatively, I could be sitting, stretching, taking off my shoes, ordering a drink, and focusing my full attention work/entertainment/sleep for that 20 minutes.
  • billatq 7y ago
    Many airports have half decent lounges. My personal preference is to hang out in the lounge until the boarding is nearly over, stroll onto the plane and sit down to go, but this tends to be impractical due to luggage.
• TomVDB 7y ago
  although personally I've always wondered why this is desirable The hustle and bustle at the gate stresses me out. (There's no good reason why and it shouldn't, but it does.) Once I'm sitting in my window seat, I close my eyes and relax.
• dunmalg 7y ago
  >I've always wondered why this is desirable Others have noted other reasons, but I think the biggest reason is that 1st/business class seats are more comfortable than the crappy crowded boarding area. Economy seats, it's the other way around. And as an added bonus, on something like a 787 where the boarding doors are behind business class, boarding first means you're lounging around in the front of the plane being served drinks and addressed by name while behind you the rabble are are being herded like cattle into their tiny seats at the back. For 3x the price, 1st/business class want luxury, and sitting elbow to elbow with the riffraff in beat up terminal seating isn't that.
  • barrkel 7y ago
    To be clear, 1st class is about 10x to 35x more expensive than economy for a transatlantic flight (I wouldn't bother with upgrading on any flight I couldn't catch some sleep on). (BA: ~£200 Economy for LHR-JFK, £2300 to £7300 depending on day 1st Class)
  • United857 7y ago
    Business/1st class passengers (at least on international flights) almost always have access to lounges, rather than waiting in the gate area. As good as the plane seats are, I'd still rather spend as much lounge time as possible.
    • s1artibartfast 7y ago
      I would never consider waiting in a lounge past the start of boarding. The risk of having to reschedule a $5K flight is to great to justify the reward. If I'm not going to be in the lounge, I'm back to minimizing the time at the gate.
    • matthewowen 7y ago
      Ok, but on domestic they generally don't. Also, most lounges really aren't very good. AmEx centurion lounge is nice. But like, the United lounge in your average airport is really a few steps down from your typical airport bar.
• Macha 7y ago
  Boarding first on budget Airlines like Ryanair guarantees you a space in the overhead for your carry on, as opposed to it taking all your legroom or being forcibly checked in at the gate ("free of charge" as if it's a service). In some airports it also reduces total queueing time, though in others it just moves you from queuing at the boarding desk to queueing at a bus stop/stairwell/skybridge.
• groby_b 7y ago
  Boarding first is desirable because overhead bin space is v. limited. If you board last, it will be gone.
  • sokoloff 7y ago
    This is much, much less true in first or business class in my experience. (Same number of bins for fewer seats for a given aisle length.)
    • billatq 7y ago
      I’ve personally found that it depends on the aircraft. It’s especially true in a widebody where economy doesn’t walk through the same cabin, and not so true on a narrowbody with few seats.
• jsjohnst 7y ago
  > Not letting them board first (although personally I've always wondered why this is desirable) As someone who customarily boards early (due to fare class or airline status), I can tell you one solid reason, overhead bin space. If flight attendants would ensure folks put their bags on their row and the gate attendants ensured bags weren’t too large, this would be less an issue, but I routinely see folks fairly early in the boarding process putting their bags in rows in front of theirs, even though their row’s bin is empty or at least not full. The worst example of this was my flight a few weeks ago. I was the first to board that flight, followed by another customer in first class and her family. The woman proceeded to put all her kid’s and husband’s luggage in the first class overhead despite her being the only one in that cabin (her seat was via an upgrade, not that it matters). The rest of the passengers in first class (besides me, thankfully) had to put their luggage in the first rows of economy due to her actions which had a ripple effect down the plane. Probably extended boarding and deboarding time by at least five minutes, all because of what I’d call selfish behavior.
  • billatq 7y ago
    Pretty much this. When I’m flying business I actually would rather board at the end, but I also don’t want to check my bag because it’s a hassle to retrieve and the contents are thrown several meters. If I could guarantee there was space in the overhead for my bag or if it was loaded for me, I’d board last.
    • seanmcdirmid 7y ago
      Business class overhead space is often reserved for business class, even on domestic flights. That space doesn't usually fill up completely, so you have a lot more leeway in boarding.
      • jsjohnst 7y ago
        > That space doesn't usually fill up completely, so you have a lot more leeway in boarding. Maybe the airlines I fly are just the worst examples, but I frequently fly business/first both domestic and international and the overheads are always full, usually due in part to passengers not in that cabin.
• davinic 7y ago
  Think of it as first class seats giving the optionality to board at any time (not to mention those free drinks and snacks).
  • adrianmonk 7y ago
    Also, because first class is smaller, you spend less time standing in the jetway and airplane aisle. Part of the annoyance of boarding isn't just the total time it takes from when they open the gate door until when it's done. It's the amount of standing up, holding your luggage, shuffling forward a bit, and wondering when the person in front of you will move. Use driving as an analogy. Suppose you get out of a doctor's appointment at 3pm and are meeting someone to see a movie at 6pm. During those 3 hours, the only two activities you can do are kill time on your phone (either lingering in the doctor's office lobby or sitting in the movie theater lobby) and drive. Do you leave at 3pm and avoid rush hour, or do you wait until the last minute and get in traffic? Either way, you're going to wait 3 hours, so you're not saving time, but one is less stressful.
    • virtuous_signal 7y ago
      Yes that does sound nice and I agree that the first option would feel better. However if someone offered me the choice between being able to do the first, and say, a new Macbook Pro 16", I would take the computer every time. I think even if I were a billionaire I would rather keep my few thousand dollars and suffer the indiginities of economy, but of course I'm not, nor can I know how my values would change if I were a billionaire.
      • seanmcdirmid 7y ago
        If you fly a lot on long hauls, you'll quickly succumb to economy class syndrome if you spend all your time there. Once or twice a year, it is now problem, but not being able to sleep very well for 11 hours straight gets old quickly, and there is only so much content to go there in their entertainment system (if you are a frequent flyer, you've seen all of it)...not to mention your butt and legs just start getting sore after awhile. Even though I'm not really a frequent flyer, I generally buy business class when they are on sale. E.g. Beijing to Bali on Hong Kong Express for $900 roundtrip (vs. $500 for economy), or Beijing to LA on ANA for $2000 last minute one way (vs. $1500 for economy, and since I was moving, it was tax deductible at the time). You can find some good deals, especially in Asia, and the experience can be worth it.
• Domenic_S 7y ago
  > although personally I've always wondered why this is desirable Carry-on space. I have yet to see a truly full flight where at least some carry ons aren't gate-checked.
• adrianmonk 7y ago
  > Business and 1st class make a lot of money for airlines. Not letting them board first (although personally I've always wondered why this is desirable) would devalue their tickets and make less profit for the airline. Seems like you can model this as equivalent to boarding two airplanes. Boarding first class is like boarding one airplane, and when you're done with that you start the clock ticking on boarding coach, which is like the second airplane. In which case, you have two airplane-boarding sub-problems, and the number you care about is the sum of the times. You can apply whatever strategy to both subproblems, then you can reduce both numbers that you're adding, and you still get a smaller sum. Maybe it's not as much of an efficiency gain as doing away with the first class and coach separation, but it should still be an efficiency gain.
• seanmcdirmid 7y ago
  > although personally I've always wondered why this is desirable Business class seats are nice and you get a swanky drink/treat to enjoy after boarding. When in economy, I always hang back during boarding unless I'm worried about overhead, but in biz it is really different. And they often board through their own door anyways (if international).