Lufthansa and Swiss rely on Wilma to get you on board faster

Everyone hates the boarding of a flight. It’s long, confused and once you get inside it’s even worse and more confused. But Lufthansa and Swiss have come up with a method that should solve everything.

Boarding: the passenger’s hell

Who takes pleasure in waiting for an eternity in the boarding lounge and then to line up kindly at the approach of the scheduled boarding time to hear that they will board with a little delay, then to see the business, elite etc passengers boarding in priority before the floodgates are opened to let “the rest” of the passengers board…that is to say 80% of the crowd.

And then…it’s hell. Those who try to move towards the back wait for those who are in front of them to quietly put their things in the trunks without worrying about the people waiting behind (you know…the double-parked delivery man in a small street who doesn’t care about you…well, it’s the same).

Let’s add the fact that when you are at a window, you have to make the two people who separate you from the aisle stand up and move to get settled… all this repeated row by row in the most absolute disorder is the nightmare of any passenger, and even more so when travelling with a family.

Boarding, the nightmare of airlines

But you think that the airlines have fun to make the passenger suffer by saying “we have obsolete procedures but we don’t care, it’s the passenger who suffers” you are mistaken.

A boarding that takes time is a risk of delay and a delay is expensive. It is also said that an aircraft on the ground costs the airline $1000 per minute. So it’ s better to avoid late departures due to boarding in snail mode.

To get a flight on board as quickly as possible, the airlines have tried everything as shown in this old Slate article, with scientific studies to back it up. Bottom line: no method really works from a scientific point of view except one that is practically unrealistic.

Lufthansa and Swiss aim for 35% faster boardings.

Starting next November, Lufthansa and Swiss will completely rethink their boarding procedures using the so-called WILMA method (Window-Middle-Aisle).

The passengers seated at a window board first, followed by those seated in the middle and finally those seated in the aisle. We can see the benefits of such an approach since it should limit as much as possible the inconvenience caused by traffic jams due to the fact that a person cannot get to his seat without making passengers already seated get up.

Expected time savings? 35% !

Too many exceptions for this to work.

But like any rule, this one has its exceptions, which in my opinion are too numerous to keep the promise.

– First, business and “Star Alliance Gold” status passengers will logically continue to have priority boarding.

This is not a problem for the first two categories which are in cabins with less passengers in the width and which will not slow down the process too much.

On the other hand, Gold passengers can very well be seated anywhere in the economy cabin and therefore, depending on their number, contribute to recreate the problem to be solved, even if it is in lesser proportions.

– Families with children and people traveling together can also embark together.

This is the weakness of the approach. Okay for families but if we count all the “people traveling together” that is, if my understanding is good, starts at two people it is in my opinion 30% of the passengers who are concerned. Perhaps 50-75% during the vacation season, when it is even more important to have efficient boardings.

A logical exception from the simple point of view of common sense, but an exception of too great proportions in my opinion for the system to bear fruit.

Photo : Lufthansa boarding by Cineberg via Shutterstock.