The Fastest Way to Board a Plane—And Why Airlines Avoid It
After hours of anxiously monitoring airport screens, the announcement finally comes: boarding. Yet this doesn't guarantee you'll be stepping onto the aircraft anytime soon. Confusing calls for priority boarders and numbered groups often drag out the process, leaving travelers frustrated. Surprisingly, a scientifically proven boarding method exists that could dramatically speed things up—but precisely zero airlines use it.
The Steffen Method: Astrophysics Meets Air Travel
Devised by astrophysicist Jason Steffen and published in 2008, the Steffen Method theorizes the perfect way to board passengers with maximum efficiency. Steffen's research concluded that travelers should board from back to front in this specific order:
- Odd-numbered window seats
- Even-numbered window seats
- Odd-numbered middle seats
- Even-numbered middle seats
- Odd-numbered aisle seats
- Even-numbered aisle seats
The results were striking: this technique proved at least five times faster than traditional back-to-front boarding and between 20% and 30% faster than random group systems currently employed by many carriers.
Why Airlines Resist the Faster System
Despite its proven efficiency, no major airlines have adopted the Steffen Method. According to Steffen himself, the primary reason is complexity. It does require a bit of control over the passengers that I don't think airlines really have, he previously told Wired. The system would be impractical for separating families and doesn't account for late arrivals.
There's also a significant financial consideration. In an interview with USA Today, Steffen acknowledged implementation challenges: 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, Steffen noted. Airlines generate substantial revenue from priority boarding packages, which the Steffen Method would potentially eliminate.
Current Airline Boarding Practices
Different carriers employ varying approaches to boarding. A Wizz Air spokesperson explained they allow priority passengers, families with small children, and those requiring special assistance to board first, followed by random boarding for remaining passengers—which they believe represents the fastest process. To reduce congestion, each boarding pass indicates whether to use the front or rear door.
EasyJet uses a similar system, boarding customers with special assistance first, followed by speedy boarding, families with children under five, and then the remainder of the flight. British Airways also prioritizes customers with additional needs and families with young children before calling groups by number. On short-haul flights, BA numbers these from one to five, with groups one through three reserved for club members and groups four and five arranged by seat row.
Passenger Perspectives on Boarding Chaos
Travelers have strong opinions about boarding processes. One Reddit user commented: The way we board planes is horrendous. It should be boarded rear to front and deboarded front to rear. They added that the only defensible reason for current systems is overhead space management, suggesting it's better to board last than first or middle.
Another social media user claimed boarding processes are intentionally bad to pressure passengers into paying for favorable treatment. If they had an efficient and decent process, then there'd be no reason for you to pay more for the favorable treatment, they argued.
Some have even compared certain airline boarding experiences to factory farming, describing situations where passengers are held in confined areas without seats or toilets before being pushed toward the aircraft. This highlights the ongoing tension between airline efficiency, passenger experience, and revenue generation in modern air travel.
