Last week (or 2 weeks ago) mythbusters tested whether the standard boarding method (back to front) is in fact the worst possible method, along with 4 other methods to determine what is the best.
The results are attached.
They built a “plane” – set up 30 rows, with 5 business class rows and 25 rows of 2 columns of 3 seats each with standard airline seats and overhead bins. They got real FA’s to assist with the process, had 200 people or so with real luggage and 5% were assigned “secret” random stupidness (going to the bathroom during boarding, folding a suit meticulously, moving around with baby, oversized luggage, etc.)
At the end everyone voted if it was a great, ok , or terrible experience, with great worth 1 point, ok 0 and terrible -1. As can be clearly seen, the back to front method was the worst, but surprisingly the second (assigned seats, but all board at once was much faster).
Strangely enough the completely random order (I think Southwest method) with no assigned seats and all boarding at once was the fastest - although it was rated the worst experience.
