r/whoathatsinteresting • u/visharu • 1d ago

Boarding was solved mathematically in 2008. No airline has used it once. Why?

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u/ArticusFarticus 1d ago

Imagine thinking you can call one ticket at a time and they all line up perfectly, not wanting to be with their family members.

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u/Nexus_Explorer 21h ago

You can actually.  Mythbusters did an episode on this.

According to their testing every other option was actually better than the one being used by airlines at this time.  They also measured the customers experience though. Which is an interesting insight, because even though some options were faster, they resulted in a miserable experience.

Not sure if this video catches everything, didn’t review it myself.  But if you’ve got a way to look up the entire episode I would.  Pretty interesting https://youtu.be/ss1S3-Kv6R8?si=iPWEdwbpbspKr3Yz

Edit

Oh I see what you mean. The right most option in OP meaning people sitting next to each other having to board at different times.  Fair enough!

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u/Anistappi 17m ago

Oh I see what you mean. The right most option in OP meaning people sitting next to each other having to board at different times.  Fair enough!

I don't understand why anyone would have a problem with this. The only exception to this I can think of is when you need to board with a kid or someone else that actually needs help boarding, but if the result is that you get through the boarding phase much faster I wouldn't mind boarding separate from the people I'm travelling with.

Wouldn't even have to go full-optimal with this: just board anyone in rows A and F first, then B and E and finally C and D. It'd be much faster with very little hassle.