A Better Way to Board an Airplane

A seemingly frustrated CGP Grey explains why the current method of boarding airplanes in the United States is not working and proposes a better, faster way to accomplish this momentous task. In doing so, Grey uses the primary principles from the Steffan method to make boarding a far faster process. Grey suggests that it be done in groups. These groups would board “all one side of the plane in every other row”. Unfortunately, this method in theory will not necessarily work when put to real life use. Factors include the airline’s bottom line and human nature itself.

And where, even at their best, the human inability to follow instructions is breathtaking. Here, people, upon seeing ‘boarding group 123’, would flip the hell out. Let alone the impossibility of trying to get them to stand in line in order. And where even if faster, like watching seconds of a clock, people would complain it was slower. pinch. …Instead of exact order, boarding groups. The first would be all one side of the plane in every other row. Boarding group the second, the other side, then back, and back again. One, two, three, four. We can’t ask people for more.

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.