Air Passenger Preferences: An International Comparison Affects Boarding Theory

When boarding an aircraft, it is often assumed that minimizing the total boarding time meets economic objectives and passenger satisfaction. However, there are indications that not only the total boarding time should be considered in order to satisfy passengers. In “Air passenger preferences: an international comparison affects boarding theory,” a large survey among airplane passengers, which was conducted in Germany, Israel, and the United States, confirms that a significant share of passengers prefers short individual boarding times. Interestingly, if boarding is restricted to two boarding groups that differ by the passengers’ speed of taking their assigned seat (e.g., passengers with and without hand luggage), “slow-first” is best for minimizing the total boarding time, but “fast-first” is best for minimizing average individual boarding time. Thus, the paper presents a new boarding strategy called “slow-back-first,” where the resulting total boarding time and the resulting average individual boarding time are both close to their respective optimum.