We can never have perfection because what's faster for *everyone* isn't faster for the ones who already had it faster than everyone else.

If your bag can't fit under the seat in front of you, it should stay at home. I mean really, people, wherever you're going, do you think they won't have.... THINGS there??

That was astoundingly fascinating! Just a side note, the plural of automaton is automata

Just be the last to board and watch everyone else wait in line while you sit down near the gate and relax.

Flight from Knoxville :D

How about the plane is on time. And if you check in early you can get on the plane and wait on the rest of the slow pokes.

What would be better is, you get to a seat that is your number. The plane rolls up and the whole seats comes out and the new seats roll in. Much like the Jetsons.

_"...untidiness and smells..."_ cracked me up

how about no seat numbers just get on the plane

2:35 CGP Red

Never once have I encountered boarding groups, other than the time I flew from Oslo to Stockholm, and ended up on the same airplane as Princess Madeleine. She boarded last, with her body guards in the front row. xD Everyone else just boarded all at once. Never seen it be done differently. Is this one of those American things?

I cam here for te odd1sout

probabaly happens in japan

In NZ you board the front and back of the plane simultaneously

Without watching the video, without assigned seating, ask who has no overhead luggage, they board first. Then, who wants to sit their choice next, at $5-$10. Next a window seat first, then aisle seats, then middle seats with a free drink coupon. I've flown enough to know this will work. You dont need a carryon, idiots.

3:06 CASEY.... Your not supposed to be here!

The window middle isle wouldn’t work well cuz of parents travelling with kids

Grey for president! oh yeah, FINALLY. Good stuff Mr Grey

Song at 6:08?

I thought about the problem for a minute or so as we were shown the 'Back to Front' animation and essentially came up with something very similar to Steffen Perfect before it was introduced, so this clearly isn't difficult. Does the $$$ generated by the perceived elitism and notion of 'loyalty perks' seriously outweigh the idea of "Less time per flight = More flights = More profit"? Airlines are an industry just aching for a disrupt.

Front to Back: Aisles first, then middles, then windows.

I'm new to this channel, are you an industrial engineer by any chance?

1,2,3,4 we can’t ask people for more 7:15

So how fast are airlines that dont have set seating like Southwest?

I can't believe in your "PERFECT" method you let in the bourgeoisie first. Including smiley nice tat.

Bet no one caught that alliteration at 6:04. Every word starts with P. You can trick me, CGP Grey, I see and hear all. I will never forget the infamous Minecraft pigs of the animal voting videos.

You sir, deserve more!

A nice idea and animation with only thing missing: applying your own principle to the video: 6 minutes of what the well-known problem is and 7 minutes to the solution. Saving the best, the thing of most interest, to the those who had the patience to wait.

Never thought that a video about boarding methods would make me laugh so hard. Those expressions on the tiny round passengers broke me. You guys got me hooked for all the 9:30 minutes and know I’m thinking about plane boarding efficiency. Well done guys, well done 👏

I was willing to watch the entire aircraft deplane at the end, I was entranced

You know what would be even easier? Restrict personal stowage so no one gets to carry on anything that would be larger than what fits in their lap and remove the overhead compartment all together and replace it with a small personal bin under the seat. You sit down with your bag in your lap, you can freely stow what you don't want immediately in the bin without everyone having to wait for you to get your shit together. Carry on should not be much larger than a small gym bag or woman's purse or a babies diaper bag. If you have more than that you are bringing with you, Pack it in the cargo hold for crying out loud.

i find getting OFF the freakin plane WAY more offensive.....

When I see this video recommended, I just can't help but watch it again. Over. And. OVER.

I have flown to/from Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Netherlands, Croatia, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Iran, China, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea, and I have NEVER heard of boarding groups until now...

5:21 :Where cows are spheres"

First class the post

What about families?

Also, I do think you can get people to line up in a row. It's not that hard. Just sort everyone that wants to stand in the line with a few nice ground personell. From a mathematician or enginering perspective it might look impossible, I understand.

In the fastest way possible, why do they skip a row? And, both sides of seats could be used in stead of only one. Don't understand, seems suboptimal to me.

Also, what if we could store the luggage while standing in front of our chairs?

So, why not sort on row number? So that 90% of suitcases can be stored at once?

barssssssss

My technique: be the LAST to board, go to my reserved AISLE seat, near an EXIT, and be the FIRST to exit. Thank me later. P.S. that, unfortunately, is still nothing compared to the ever-increasing paranoid level of control in the airports, from the check-in, over the security, to the boarding gate, leading to your stay at the fricking airport being longer than the flight itself.

2:38 proletariat boarding group lol

Of course, this is mostly only a problem in the US and China, two countries where people insist on bringing oversized luggage and the airlines do nothing to stop it. Plus, they suffer under the imposition of being complete idiots. That's why boarding in the US or China takes 30-60 minutes, while it's a 15-30 minute exercise in most of the rest of the world.

Where does Southwest fall in this?

I just flew and we boarded first first class then front to back

i think your forgetting there are always douchebags who try to get on the plane first no matter where they sit.

As long as airlines keep letting these idiots with giant carry on luggage taking up all the overhead space we will all continue to suffer. When was the last time you have been on a flight and the overhead compartments still had room? I can't remember. People will always abuse the system.

Umm people board randomly on all airlines I’ve been on.

From the front and back doors

Supposing that people dont push each other and ignores the fact other people are trying to leave, yeah, this would work

Whatever man. There is nothing funnier than getting a group together (me and my cousins) to block the line for 10 minutes on purpose. It is more beautiful than the perfect, most efficient method.

Delta Boards be class / airfare / medallion status / etc... ultimately resulting in front to back. ...because if they didn't, the people who paid more would get pissed when overhead bin space runs out...

This was your worst video. Didn't make it to three end.

Nice vid keep up the good work

on a personal note!!! I don't give a doodoo if it takes 20 more minutes. im on vacation baby.. except for the crying baby for 3+ hours;), I find it hilarious people who rush to get on the plane!! you have to wait for me anyways moron lolol

4:46 OF COURSE it was an Apple sheep

I don't even fly. Why did I watch this?

Check all bags larger than a day packs or purses.

So, you want a Southwest plus method.

Grey got downright existential there. What happened to him?

We're basically throwing math at human psychology, and human psychology screws it up every time. For instance, you didn't take into account the jackasses that, upon seeing open seats when they board, figure they can just sit wherever they want. (EG: they have an aisle seat, but decide to take a window seat that's open). Then, when the person who owns that seat shows up, there's a big bog down from the re-shuffle (and often the jackass tries to negotiate... "oh, I have a condition, so I have to sit next to the window.") Their logic is that it's better to assume the seat is free and give it up after-the-fact, then to sit where they need to and move later. But, it slows things down.

Or more accurately, his model was too simplistic to account for additional human factors/parameters. It's like he formulated a method for herding sheep in a stockyard, not humans onto a plane.

Capitalism, my friends. Soak it up

Just came here because of James

And that folks is why communism doesn’t work, people are better off by themselves than being controlled for everything.

First class dont always go first, Sometimes the airline likes to get all the slower disabled people (Usually physically disabled ones) out of the way before all of the others go in.

I think Airlines should take the incentive model to the max and charge people extra who take too long, with the slowest person getting no food and a voided return ticket.

It's strange that every time someone discusses this, they freak out the complication where people want to sit together breaks the algorithm. Just consider the grouped people as a single unit belonging to the outmost seat, because they will behave as such.

the airline I always use (southwest) has people line up based on the number on their ticket but there's no assigned seating. edit: the first checked bag is also free

Bryce Maverick and second

Flying suck! And TSA is garbage

Not sure if that would be practically possible, but how about asking people to first go sit, with their bags on their laps, then once a large enough number of people has boarded, tell them they can now stow their bags?

I'm interested in your opinion on the voting system

I don't think Steffen would be unattainable, all you need to do is have a screen by the gate and a speaker which goes 'ONE, ONE, ONE,' and ONE flashes up on the screen in time and person one is supposed to get up. Then a few seconds later, two, etc. It's inevitable that someone would be slow and the number after them ends up going before them, no biggie. It's still mostly efficient. Also, yes there would be assholes who are like number 5 so they slowly go over to the gate when 2 gets up but if you have staff that pounce as soon as someone starts to block the gate it will still mostly work. Thanks for giving me a winning strategy for my future airline CGP Grey.

Honestly, why would you even want to be on the plane first? It won't even begin to leave until everyone is on board and seated, and I would much rather spend more time in the terminal than on the plane, considering the absurdly small amount of space you have on the plane

3:25 I'm pretty sure Southwest Airlines still uses this boarding method.

Yes, we can go "further" but not "farther."

Why did you assume preassigned seats for this analysis? Any chance of comparing the Southwest model where you pick your seat while boarding?

They did, "random" was one of the methods presented.

this isnt cgp grey its dr suse

but wouldn't it be better if everyone just goes to their seats and wait for others to follow in? Then unpack and put their bags on top of them?

6:08 goddamnit Nuclear War! Hurry up and finish us ;_;

Not every culture is incredibly undisciplined, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a long, tidy and silent boarding line in Japan.

or just make everyone sit with a tiny bag on their lap till everyones on

The reason we don't board back to front is because it would shift the center of gravity dangerously behind the main landing gear. As fun as it would be to make your plane do a wheelie, it would most definitely delay your flight.

Talk about future proofing! This video is in 5K 60fps!

Airlines will not board passengers by AISLE because it would separate children from their parents. You wouldn't send a five-year-old by themselves with a group of strangers to find their seat. That would force parents to sit behind their children instead of next to them if they wanted to board together.

Ah, the naive solution

Computer programmer here. The best/optimal solution is to remove the problem of people stocking their luggage completely. Companies could use a conveyor belt that runs through the entire luggage system storage in the plane, and have it connected to an outside portable conveyor belt system, so that passengers can preload their luggage before they even have to get on.

first class *PROLETARiAT*

Are you from Knoxville?

I've never experienced boarding groups

Or you could be Southwest and say, “You guys still have to go onto the plane in groups, but sit wherever the hell you want.”

Use 'first come first serve'

Wait... I've never been in a flight using boarding groups before. The first class goes first, and then afterwards every other person lines up randomly, go through a ticket checkpoint at the door, and just... go in. You can stay behind to wait for someone or cut the person in front when reasonable. (like when they're waiting for someone or walking too slow so as to cause a gap.) Do airports not usually do this? I've only ever seen this method in my travels!

I check my bags and get on the place at the last minute so that I don't have to deal with the nonsense.

I know you have a ton of topics to cover already. But how about "The brief history of germany and a hole lot more" . But be prepared to review one of the worst and slowest and weirdest forms of politcal and geographical history.

But what about airplanes where you can board in the front and also in the back? And the boarding pass requests in which entrence you should board? How much faster is that and What is then the quickest way?

Or, set up a shopping checkout style conveyor belt for the bags, starting as you scan your boarding pass (2 lines). Just drop them on the conveyor, board back to front, and your bag ends up roughly above your head. No pausing to stow your bag, boarding time reduced. Exiting the plane is someone else's problem to solve, I'm done here.

You wait in the plane anyway, does not really matter if you board fast or not...

First world problems! though i did like the use of the wii music.

I hate flying!