The best way to board an airplane

Personally, I would board people without carry-on luggage first (non-blocking group) and then people who have a single bag that can fit underneath the seat in-front-of-them, and then board people who require the use of overhead space. I suspect it would make things a lot smoother and it would perhaps reduce the size and number of bags people bring on board. Just a hunch.

It would be interesting to see how much of the time savings come from more efficient boarding order versus just forcing people to all be lined up and ready to go. If passengers can board faster but it takes an extra ten minutes to get everyone in the right order, that's not a win.

> Continental will be soon begin boarding by seat position: first window seats, then middle, then aisle

That's great news - next time I fly Continental, I'll be sure to be the last person in line, I love the aisle seat.

> In a forthcoming paper, Jason Steffen of the Fermilab Center for Particle Astrophysics, argues that the fastest way to board a plane is to have passengers line up beforehand in a very specific order. In Steffen’s chart (at right), passengers who will be seated far apart board the plane around the same time

This assumes that people can follow these kinds of directions quickly and effectively, doesn't it?