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I think this can be summarized as: Airline boarding is terrible because airlines are profit maximizers, not customer service maximizers. As the article points

I think this can be summarized as: Airline boarding is terrible because airlines are profit maximizers, not customer service maximizers. As the article points out, airlines are actually incentivized not to make the boarding process better since they can charge more for things like priority boarding and checked bags, as well as encourage customers down the frequent flyer status path. As long as the experience is almost the same across airlines and they are not losing customers, there is no reason to change the process. Additionally, customers are not rational actors when it comes to boarding. Even if airlines adopted a more efficient method, it would face many problems, like frequent flyers complaining about having to use general boarding and many people holding up the boarding process due to stuffing oversized carry-on baggage into the overhead bins.

WalterBright 13y ago
In WW2, statisticians determined that if B-17s flew their missions unarmed, they would have a higher survival rate. Unarmed B-17's would be quite a bit lighter, and so could fly higher and faster. But the air crews simply could not tolerate not being able to shoot back.
- gamegoblin 13y ago
  I have no idea about the statistics, but in a wartime scenario this leaves out a crucial factor: number of enemies killed So if you send out 100 B17s with guns and 80 come back, but they kill N enemy attackers, and 100 B17s without guns and 90 come back, but kill 0 enemy attackers, maybe if N is high enough it's worth it?
  - WalterBright 13y ago
    If you lose 20% per mission, you will no longer have an air force within a couple weeks.