The Ultimate Guide to Stress-Free Airplane Boarding: How We Reached this Point

"We are now commencing the boarding process for our flight."

That familiar boarding announcement from the gate agent signifies the start of a potentially chaotic 45 minutes ahead. Airlines deliberately create this chaos to encourage passengers to opt for a smoother boarding experience at an additional cost.

Passengers promptly gather in the gate queue, leading to a congestion point. Despite initially deciding to remain composed in the airport waiting area until your specific zone is summoned, you find yourself unable to resist the urge. Consequently, you join the jostling crowd.

Subsequently, there arises a state of bewilderment concerning the allocation of zones for the passengers.

Zone 1 or Group A does not guarantee priority boarding. Passengers often disregard the order and line up ahead of their turn, hoping to secure overhead bin space for their carry-on bags. Eventually, when your zone is called, you can proceed to scan your ticket and board the plane. However, before you get too excited, be prepared for the possibility of a long line on the jet bridge. Additional waiting may be required.

A back up on the jet bridge.

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Once you make it through the crawl on the jet bridge and step onto the plane, its also backed up.

Your seat is located in the rearmost section of the aircraft. You gradually navigate the cramped aisle, making intermittent progress until you reach your designated row.

If fortune smiles upon you, you manage to locate an available space in the overhead compartment for your carry-on bag. With a degree of clumsiness, you cautiously place it inside, hoping to avoid unintentionally striking a fellow passenger. However, the ordeal is still ongoing.

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Upon reaching our window seat, you discover someone occupying the middle seat. Consequently, they are compelled to vacate the seat and relocate to the aisle, thus causing a delay in the line behind you.

According to Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst at Atmosphere Research Group, "Boarding a plane is reminiscent of Lord of the Flies in the 21st century. The airlines are responsible for the convoluted and chaotic process."

Heres how it became so disorderly, and why it isnt more efficient.

Boarding as a business opportunity

The airlines view the panic surrounding faster boarding and the assurance of an overhead compartment not as a flaw but as a benefit.

Certainly, airlines have the ability to improve boarding for all passengers. However, their priority is to enhance the boarding experience solely for those willing to pay extra.

Carriers realized that they could enhance their profits by implementing a fee for passengers desiring priority boarding. According to Robert Mann, an airline consultant and former executive, there exists internal conflict between the marketing teams of airlines who prioritize revenue generation during boarding and the operations teams striving for a more streamlined process.

Crowded airports, crowded boarding.

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"Because theres so much money on the credit card and frequent flier side, the marketing people win and the operations people have to deal with it," he said.

In addition, advancements in airline analytics have led to larger planes being more frequently fully booked. This, in turn, has prompted certain carriers to decrease the number of gate agents, as each additional agent means increased expenses for the airlines.

Despite numerous attempts by airlines to implement various boarding strategies and techniques throughout the years, the process continues to be a nightmarish experience.

Bag fees and loyalty programs

Getting on a plane wasnt always this complicated.

In the past, airlines would prioritize boarding first class passengers and adopt an open boarding system for the main cabin, allowing passengers to check bags without any charges. However, in 2008, due to significant increases in fuel prices, airlines started implementing fees for checked bags.

"Thats when things began to go off the rails," Harteveldt said.

Passengers started to carry on more bags to avoid paying a fee or wait to pick up bags at their arrival.

Airlines discovered a lucrative opportunity by charging for baggage, but this has resulted in slower boarding processes, according to Massoud Bazargan, a professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, who specializes in studying airline scheduling and operations.

Precious overhead space.

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Airlines made nearly $7 billion in revenue from bag fees last year, as reported by the Transportation Department. As a result, airlines implemented new strategies to generate additional income, such as offering the sale of premium overhead bin space to passengers who were willing to pay for early boarding. Additionally, airlines began promoting credit cards, frequent flier programs, and loyalty programs as means to attract customers who desired priority boarding, a service that was not previously deemed crucial before the industry faced significant disruptions.

Starting in 2012, airlines started implementing basic economy fares and providing priority boarding for a charge. With the emergence of these additional categories of passengers, it became necessary for airlines to segregate them during the boarding process. This led to the introduction of a new terminology involving various boarding zones and groups, resulting in a slower boarding procedure.

"The more zones and groups of boarding, the longer it takes," Bazargan said.

Changes in the airline industry to improve airlines profitability have also impacted boarding.

Aircraft have increased in size and now feature tighter seating arrangements in order to accommodate a greater number of passengers. Furthermore, flights have become more frequently crowded, causing delays in the boarding process.

According to the Transportation Department, the passenger load factor, which represents the ratio of passengers to available seats, has risen to 84% in April, a significant increase from 74% in 2000.

A better boarding process

Airlines have been experimenting with different boarding schemes to try to speed up the process. But none have found an optimal boarding method.

Attempts to board passengers by seating type, starting with window seats, then middle seats, and finally aisles, a method known as Wilma, proved unsuccessful for certain airlines. This approach was ultimately abandoned due to its tendency to separate families and create disorder among late boarders. Moreover, adopting a back-to-front boarding sequence has also presented difficulties.

Passengers looking for their seats and stowing their luggage in the overhead cause congestion in the aisle. However, Jason Steffen, a physics professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, has devised a more efficient boarding method that allows passengers to board in pairs of rows.

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The Steffen Method enables multiple rows of passengers to conveniently store their luggage together, effectively reducing the time required for loading. Implementing this method can potentially reduce the boarding time by almost 50%.

However, airlines have not yet adopted this approach as it requires rigorous quality controls to manage the queuing order and disrupts the existing boarding strategies which are designed according to the travelers' status.

If airlines aim to enhance the efficiency of the boarding process, they could consider implementing certain measures such as waiving the baggage checking fee, reducing the number of boarding zones, and transitioning to open seating.

Southwest Airlines boasts the speediest boarding process among all major airlines by implementing a simple strategy: allowing passengers to choose the first seat available. This method proves effective as it reduces the time spent in the aisle and grants passengers the liberty to opt for less crowded seating options. However, it is improbable that other airlines will adopt Southwest's approach.

"They dont want to do random seating," Bazargan said. "They would deprive themselves money from seat assignments."

CNNs Harry Enten contributed to this article.