4 ms·

Every airplane I've ever been on has boarded front to back (which I've always found non-sensical), but the article says most board back to front. Am I going cra

Every airplane I've ever been on has boarded front to back (which I've always found non-sensical), but the article says most board back to front. Am I going crazy, or are Delta, US Airways, and American Airlines not in that "most US airlines"?

m_mueller 13y ago
I has the same experience when flying US Airways. Seeing this I just thought someone was extra incompetent, but reading the last sentence of the article it starts making sense - they want it to be inefficient so people pay extra.
- monksy 13y ago
  They don't. They want to get the plane loaded and out of the way. The quicker they get the plane loaded and fully ready to go the quicker the FAs get paided. Less "wasted time." Quick boarding: This is a perk for those who fly quite a bit. [You can't make silver status, butt on the seat method, by just flying on 4 domestic flights a year]
mchusma 13y ago
In general, you are seeing the premium customers board first, who have seats in front.
Plasmoid 13y ago
It's a recent trend to board front-to-back. This way, the first class cabin/priority sections get first dibs on the overhead bins while the people in the cheap sets get play Tetris meets Sword of Damocles.
- drblast 13y ago
  Nothing to add but the Tetris meets Sword of Damocles made me laugh out loud. Thanks for that.
sjm-lbm 13y ago
Almost all of my flying experience is on American, so I'm not sure how much this applies to the others, but I think all US majors technically board back to front. The problem is that there are so many ways so "cut" in line that (at least according to some airline industry friends of mine) it's fairly common for about 50% of the plane to board out of order. Off the top of my head, you can board earlier on AA if you: - fly on the airline a lot/have some sort of frequent flyer status - are in a premium cabin - have the AA credit card - pay $10 extra at checkin - are in the military - have a seat on a row with a bulkhead in front of it - are on an exit row - have children flying with you .. and, of course, I'm sure that list isn't exhaustive. By the time you factor all that in, I usually think it looks like boarding happens in a completely random order.
chiph 13y ago
Can depend on the aircraft. For smaller planes, they have weight & balance restrictions, so they'll have people board front-to-back, so the plane doesn't flip backwards.

m_mueller 13y ago

I has the same experience when flying US Airways. Seeing this I just thought someone was extra incompetent, but reading the last sentence of the article it starts making sense - they want it to be inefficient so people pay extra.

monksy 13y ago
They don't. They want to get the plane loaded and out of the way. The quicker they get the plane loaded and fully ready to go the quicker the FAs get paided. Less "wasted time." Quick boarding: This is a perk for those who fly quite a bit. [You can't make silver status, butt on the seat method, by just flying on 4 domestic flights a year]

mchusma 13y ago

In general, you are seeing the premium customers board first, who have seats in front.

Plasmoid 13y ago

It's a recent trend to board front-to-back. This way, the first class cabin/priority sections get first dibs on the overhead bins while the people in the cheap sets get play Tetris meets Sword of Damocles.

drblast 13y ago
Nothing to add but the Tetris meets Sword of Damocles made me laugh out loud. Thanks for that.

sjm-lbm 13y ago

Almost all of my flying experience is on American, so I'm not sure how much this applies to the others, but I think all US majors technically board back to front. The problem is that there are so many ways so "cut" in line that (at least according to some airline industry friends of mine) it's fairly common for about 50% of the plane to board out of order. Off the top of my head, you can board earlier on AA if you: - fly on the airline a lot/have some sort of frequent flyer status - are in a premium cabin - have the AA credit card - pay $10 extra at checkin - are in the military - have a seat on a row with a bulkhead in front of it - are on an exit row - have children flying with you .. and, of course, I'm sure that list isn't exhaustive. By the time you factor all that in, I usually think it looks like boarding happens in a completely random order.

chiph 13y ago

Can depend on the aircraft. For smaller planes, they have weight & balance restrictions, so they'll have people board front-to-back, so the plane doesn't flip backwards.