My Flight to Vegas

I still don’t understand why when boarding an airplane, they have the first ‘zone’ of rows board the aircraft first.

What happens is a cluster of anxious, rushed, inconsiderate passengers who have to wait for the people in the front rows to find their seats, store their bags and get out of the aisle way so the rest of us can do the same.

I understand first class passengers boarding first. They have, after all, paid an exuberant amount for a ‘luxury’ flying experience – they should be able to board first, last or anywhere in between if they so choose. (By the way, how awkward is it for us economy folks who walk by all those first-classers as they stare at us as we stand and wait for the herd to move on back down the line to find our seats? You would think they have some New Yorker magazines to read, or some mimosas to drink.)

Ok, so we know the mass majority of passengers are ‘economy class’. Wouldn’t it make much better sense if the people who are assigned seats towards the back of the plane get to board first?

Certainly I can’t be the first person to come up with this idea, could I?

If you’re in row 30, you get on first. The plane would be empty. You board the plane, the aisle ways are clear, you walk all the way to the back to your seat, uninterrupted, unconstrained, and you store your carry-on quickly and efficiently and find your seat and wow that was smooth.

Then the next few rows. And the next few. Until finally everyone is on board and has found their seats. And none of them had to stand and wait in the aisle.

Ok, I know what some of you might say (I’d say the same). If we do it how you suggested, Tarun, well then those unfortunate souls in rows 25-30 (or whatever) would be on the plane much longer than the rest of us. They’d be the first to board and the last to get off.

Oh well.

Everything would go by smoother and quicker so it wouldn’t really be any longer than it is today.

And maybe you could make those tickets slightly cheaper and the front rows slightly more expensive to make up for the ‘inconvenience’.

What do you think?

Have you ever felt the boarding process could go by a bit more smoothly?