I've often wondered what happened to WILMA - window, middle then aisle seats, which I saw used a few years back.
I've noticed that Delta assign passengers to one of around seven groups which board in order. The top one is for premium passengers but the remainder are presumably in sequence to stop passengers tripping over each other. Does anyone have a view as to whether it helps?
One problem is that people often arrive late at a gate particularly if transferring.
I try to board early if I am sitting at the back of a plane but if the queue to board is very long I give up and stay seated until it shortens. You can try and prevent those sitting at the front of the plane boarding too soon, but you can't do the reverse.