Is boarding quicker without assigned seating?

[Peter47]

Can anyone out there with experience tell me how much quicker it is to board an aircraft without assigned seating compared with one that does? Also does boarding an aircraft from the front and rear halve boarding time or is it less than that?

Just curious.

[Jean-Lill]

Boarding without allocated seat numbers is quicker because everyone attempts to board first to get the best seats and you do not get people hanging around in bars till the last minute.

Boarding through 2 doors should be quicker providing the passengers obey the ground staff and board through the door they are directed to. My experience is as crew you get quite a few who ignore the instructions and board through the forward door regardless of where they are sitting. Even some in the last row will out of habit board through the forward door. This of course defeats the object of 2 door boarding as you get a pile-up in the aisle.

Unless a member of ground staff checks the seat numbers and insists they board though the door closest to their seat it will not work. People have a habit of always going for the forward door for some reason.

[boardingpass]

I have to disagree with Jean-Lill. In my experience, unallocated seating is slower, especially with a jet bridge, because the first people to board sit in the first rows, so everyone has to wait for them, then the next lot sit in rows 3 and 4, so everyone is again waiting for them. Then the next lot sit in row 5 and 6, again a blocked aisle, etc etc.

And then some people will be saving seats for the rest of their group, but when they arrive they decide they want a different seat with a better view (not over the wings), so they try and move, creating more blockages in the aisle.

Then as you're finishing, you have a family with two small children who want to sit together, but you can't find seats together, so you need to ask people to move slowing things down again.

Then, if there aren't many people, you start having to ask people to move to balance the weight.

All this would be faster if it was done at checkin and allocated seating.

The claimed benefit that people are at the gate early only works if EVERYONE is at the gate, because on most occasions after the boarding is finished, we're still waiting for missing people who have checked in (even with luggage), but who are not yet on the plane. We can't close the gate until 10 mins before departure time, so everyone's on board waiting. Then, when you can wait no longer, you still have to find their luggage in the hold before leaving.

Two doors are much faster, yes. People who board at the back will usually walk towards the front which helps a lot making boarding time perhaps even more than twice as fast.

[ditzyboy]

I worked for an airline with free seating for 18 months and the rest of my 8.5 years has been with allocated seating.

All things being equal (pax load, boarding doors used and bridge or stairs) that free seating makes boarding 30% quicker. There is always the people who want to sit closer to the front. But there is also a number of people who prefer centre or aft cabin. And people who want to be seating in the less populated part of the cabin and so forth.

I also found that because it was free seating families with children were almost always at the gate and ready to board. And you are definitely waiting less time for no shows, less often too.

As people in groups of three or more wanted to sit together they would immediately endeavor to satisfy that requirement over worrying about where on the aircraft they were once the aircraft started to fill up - meaning they were seated quicker. In my experience this also meant less people ended up separated on full flights. So you were rarely trying swap pax around. Also there was seemingly less pressure to accommodate the request than when they check in an hour before the flight and received separated seats. If they are separated (on a free seating flight) it is because they are among the last to board. Hence they were among the last to join the queue - a factor they have relatively more control over than how many people check in and receive seat allocation before them.

In my opinion it is more efficient on short flights to destinations that are not solely (or more than 60-70%) leisure. This is why you see (or saw) free seating on many full service airlines on their 'shuttle' type routes (Delta and Finnair spring to mind).

[RedTBar]

ditzyboy,I assume you are talking about a well known LCC in OZ.In that case I agree with you that it is faster especially if you have families and people with special requirements boarded first.
The only problem is that it also caused some vocal arguments and was quite funny to watch at times but then I wasn't crew so didn't have to deal with it.It never ceased to amaze me how infantile people can be and the pushing and shoving was a sight to be seen.It was supposed to save the airline money but it must have caused problems because they changed to allocated seating.

The funny thing was that the first on board thought they were being smart and usually grabbed the first seats they could see and that left the overwing exit seats with more legroom free for those of us who knew about them.
Pity they went to an allocated system.

[FormerFlyer]

I recall many many moons ago operating a particular EDI-LTN sector. From :ok: to start boarding to closing my L1 door was a grand total of about 7 minutes. Total turn time was 19 minutes.

Why so quick in getting them on & bums on seats? IMHO coz we boarded the pax from the rear door & doubtless had a shedload of regulars who knew the routine.

cheers ;)
FF

[Hombre]

After flying the same route for six`years but on several different low cost airlines - only one with allocated seating (GSM) - the answer to your question is No!

[Wader2]

Boarding through 2 doors should be quicker providing the passengers obey the ground staff and board through the door they are directed to. My experience is as crew you get quite a few who ignore the instructions and board through the forward door regardless of where they are sitting.

We had a cracker last flight. Forward door area was not in use while the wheel chairs were boarded. Our coach went to the rear door and as we were in row 4 and the couple behind us were in row 2 we would have had to struggle the entire length of the aircraft.

Just as we mounted the steps the second coach arrived and its passengers were directed to the front door. It certainly would not have taken 7 minutes to sort out that problem.

Fortunately I spotted what was happening, got a nod from the GH, and we legged it to the front door.

Really the coaches should have been boarded in row order the same as for ramp or gangway boarding.

[aolXFT]

Anyone think you could board SLF quicker by locking the over-head lockers until such time as everyone is on the aircraft?

This way everyone would have to board the A/C, sit down, and then stow their luggage later, instead of boarding, and blocking the aisle.

[boardingpass]

Oh XFT, you do make me laugh. When SLF board with an oversized trolley, a laptop, a massive Gucci bag, a tray of cakes, duty free and a jacket, where on earth are they supposed to put them while they wait for the overhead lockers to be opened? You would never get everyone on!

It would be quicker if there were no seats, then everyone could sit on their trolleys. :ok:

[Pontius Navigator]

an oversized trolley, a laptop, a massive Gucci bag, a tray of cakes, duty free and a jacket,

How about an open baggage container and take the stuff off them before they board?

How many pax actually have baggage of the exact size specified by the airline?

I made a fascinating discovery the other day. In our loft we have three 40 year old suitcases, few bob each from Woolworths, and they are the EXACT size 56x45x20. Now the modern wheeled case is about 65x40x25. So, are the rules and the lockers as old as our suitcases?