This is the quickest way to board a plane — but airlines don’t use it

After anxiously checking the airport screens for hours, you finally see the magic word: boarding.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be stepping on a plane anytime soon.

Confusing calls for ‘priority boarders’ and numbered groups can make the process drag on — so it might surprise travellers to learn that there’s actually a tried and tested boarding system proven to make the process quicker.

The only problem is that precisely zero airlines use it.

Devised by astrophysicist Jason Steffen, the Steffen Method theorises the ‘perfect’ way to board passengers in the fastest and most efficient manner possible.

Steffen’s research, published in 2008, concluded that travellers were best off boarding from back to front, in the following order:

1. Odd-numbered window seats
2. Even-numbered window seats
3. Odd-numbered middle seats
4. Even-numbered middle seats
5. Odd-numbered aisle seats
6. Even-numbered aisle seats.

The results showed that the technique was at least five times faster than boarding back-to-front, and between 20% and 30% faster than using random groups.

At the moment, no major airlines use it, and according to Steffen himself, the reason is likely because it’s just too complicated.

It wouldn’t be practical to split up families, and it doesn’t account for late arrivals.

‘It does require a bit of control over the passengers that I don’t think airlines really have,’ he previously told Wired.

There’s also the financial element, too.

In an interview with USA Today, Steffen referenced the implications for airlines, stating: ‘It’s not necessarily an easy thing to implement. I wasn’t going for whether it was easy or not, the question I was going for was: what’s the fastest?’

‘Everyone has to line up in a specific order. That’s a solvable problem, but it’s a solvable problem that has a cost.’

Customers pay good money for priority boarding packages, and using the Steffen Method would potentially eradicate this lucrative form of revenue.

So, how does boarding vary depending on the airline?

A spokesperson from Wizz Air told Metro that they allow priority passengers, families with small children and passengers requiring special assistance to board first.

After that, the boarding process is random, as the airline believes this to be the ‘fastest process.’

To avoid any unnecessary congestion, each boarding pass is also flagged with instructions on whether to use the front or rear door.

EasyJet uses a similar system, boarding customers who have specifically requested special assistance first, followed by speedy boarding, families with children under five, and then the rest of the flight.

Other airlines, like British Airways, will also offer customers with additional needs and families with young children the chance to board first, before calling the remainder of the flight by group number.

On short-haul flights, BA numbers these from one to five, with groups one, two and three reflecting Gold, Silver, and Bronze club members, and groups four and five arranged according to seat row number.

Naturally, though, passengers have heated opinions on various boarding processes.

Posting in the r/unpopularopinion Subreddit, @GoDavyGo wrote: ‘The way we board planes is horrendous. It should be boarded rear to front and deboarded front to rear, but I digress.

‘The only defensible reason I can see is overhead space…it’s better to be one of the last onto the plane than one of the first or somewhere in the middle.’

Elsewhere, @Royal_Annek reckons that the boarding process is ‘intentionally bad.’

‘It’s to pressure you to pay them more money so you get favourable treatment,’ they said. ‘If they had an efficient and decent process, then there’d be no reason for you to pay more for the favourable treatment.’

Others likened the boarding experience some airlines use to ‘factory farming,’ referencing situations where passengers are invited to board without the plane being ready.

@Nadlern wrote: ‘Directly in front of the door to the tarmac, there’s a large fenced-off cage for passengers who have already been scanned for boarding. There are no toilets and no seats there.

‘As soon as the plane is ready, all passengers are then quickly pushed out of the stable and then walk across the tarmac to the plane.’

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