boarding (transport)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Boarding is the entry of
passenger A passenger (also abbreviated as pax) is a person who travels in a vehicle, but does not bear any responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle, and is not a steward. The ...
s onto a
vehicle A vehicle (from la, vehiculum) is a machine that transports people or cargo. Vehicles include wagons, bicycles, motor vehicles (motorcycles, cars, trucks, buses, mobility scooters for disabled people), railed vehicles (trains, trams), wa ...
, usually in
public transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...
ation. Boarding starts with entering the vehicle and ends with the seating of each passenger and closing the
door A door is a hinged or otherwise movable barrier that allows ingress (entry) into and egress (exit) from an enclosure. The created opening in the wall is a ''doorway'' or ''portal''. A door's essential and primary purpose is to provide security b ...
s. The term is used in road, rail, water and air transport (for example, passenger board a coach).


Aviation

At commercial
airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...
s, a ''boarding call'' on the public announcement system asks travelers to proceed to the departure gate and board the aircraft. This can begin any time from an hour to thirty minutes before departure (depending on the size of the plane and number of passengers). For boarding an aircraft, airstairs or
jetways A jet bridge (also termed jetway, jetwalk, airgate, gangway, aerobridge/airbridge, skybridge, finger, airtube, expedited suspended passenger entry system (E-SPES), or its official industry name passenger boarding bridge (PBB)) is an enclosed, ...
are used. Small aircraft may carry their own stairs. Airlines control the access to the aircraft by checking passengers' boarding passes and matching them with the list of passengers and their identification cards. Many airlines use the IATA standard ''
Bar Coded Boarding Pass A boarding pass or boarding card is a document provided by an airline during airport check-in, giving a passenger permission to enter the restricted area of an airport (also known as the airside portion of the airport) and to board the airp ...
es'' (BCBP) to automate this process. A 2D bar code is scanned and the data are sent to the airline's system to look up the list of passengers. If the passenger is entitled to board, a positive message is sent back to the airline agent. Boarding in
air travel Air travel is a form of travel in vehicles such as airplanes, jet aircraft, helicopters, hot air balloons, blimps, gliders, hang gliders, parachutes, or anything else that can sustain flight.
is supervised by ground personnel. The pilot is responsible for the boarding as soon as the doors are closed because by law the aircraft is then "in flight". After boarding, the
taxiing Taxiing (rarely spelled taxying) is the movement of an aircraft on the ground, under its own power, in contrast to towing or pushback where the aircraft is moved by a tug. The aircraft usually moves on wheels, but the term also includes aircra ...
and
takeoff Takeoff is the phase of flight in which an aerospace vehicle leaves the ground and becomes airborne. For aircraft traveling vertically, this is known as liftoff. For aircraft that take off horizontally, this usually involves starting with a t ...
will follow in most cases. Image:Cologne Bonn Airport Terminal C5.jpg, Boarding bridge to an aircraft via a jetway at the
Cologne Bonn Airport Cologne Bonn Airport (german: Flughafen Köln/Bonn 'Konrad Adenauer') is the international airport of Germany's fourth-largest city Cologne, and also serves Bonn, former capital of West Germany. With around 12.4 million passengers passing thr ...
in 2001. Image:B737-500.Economycabin.jpg, Having boarded, passengers stow their cabin baggage -
Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding m ...
Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton Factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating with two un ...
-500.


Boarding patterns and efficiency

Most
North American North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Ca ...
airlines have assigned seating, but Southwest Airlines does not. Southwest boards passengers in A, B, and C number groups depending on their ticket purchase date. Across North American airlines, it is standard to allow early boarding for passengers with mobility impairments, those with small children, and first class passengers. All airlines allow passengers in premium cabins or with elite status to board earlier, with some offering it to coach customers for a fee. Several boarding patterns by seating location are possible: * Back-to-front by row * Outside-in by column (window, middle, aisle = "Wilma") * Block boarding (outside-in within a zone, with zones ordered back-to-front) * Reverse pyramid (combines back-to-front with outside-in) * Rotating zone (alternating back-to-front and front-to-back segments) * Random Efficiency considerations to minimize overall boarding time include: * Whether passengers have to wait to pass other passengers in the aisle * Whether passengers have to cross already-seated passengers in aisle and middle seats * How many people can be storing luggage and taking their seats at the same time Competing considerations include: * Encouraging specific behaviors (paying more, self-service, checking in earlier, buying earlier) * Whether families and friends can board together * Passenger stress with regard to who gets what seat and competition for overhead bin space Computer simulations indicate that the outside-in and reverse-pyramid patterns should be fastest, followed by block and random, followed by back-to-front and rotating zone. American Airlines found in a two-year study that randomized boarding was faster than outside-in. Despite this, most North American airlines use the back-to-front pattern. Another proposed method to speed boarding is to have passengers sort themselves by row and seat while still standing in the waiting area. Television series ''
MythBusters ''MythBusters'' is a science entertainment television program, developed by Peter Rees and produced by Australia's Beyond Television Productions. The series premiered on the Discovery Channel on January 23, 2003. It was broadcast internatio ...
'' examined various boarding techniques in their 2014 episode "Plane Boarding" and found the standard back-to-front system to be the slowest among the tested.


Pre-boarding

As the process of controlling and verifying boarding passes and identity documents takes non-negligible amounts of time and as some airlines aim to reduce
turnaround time Turnaround time (TAT) is the amount of time taken to complete a process or fulfill a request. The concept thus overlaps with lead time and can be contrasted with cycle time. Meaning in computing In computing, turnaround time is the total time t ...
s, the process of "pre boarding" is increasingly employed. In this process, passengers enter a separate area after having their boarding pass inspected before the plane is ready to be boarded and once actual boarding commences passengers simply enter the plane.


Water transport

In
water transport Maritime transport (or ocean transport) and hydraulic effluvial transport, or more generally waterborne transport, is the transport of people (passengers) or goods (cargo) via waterways. Freight transport by sea has been widely used throu ...
a boarding onto a
watercraft Any vehicle used in or on water as well as underwater, including boats, ships, hovercraft and submarines, is a watercraft, also known as a water vessel or waterborne vessel. A watercraft usually has a propulsive capability (whether by sail, ...
can be done while it is located in harbour or at sea. Image:CBP female officers going aboard a ship.jpg, Officers board a ship using a
gangway Broadly speaking, a gangway is a passageway through which to enter or leave. Gangway may refer specifically refer to: Passageways * Gangway (nautical), a passage between the quarterdeck and the forecastle of a ship, and by extension, a passage th ...
. File:tourist boat at sa calobra (majorca spain) arp.jpg, Tourists board a boat in
Majorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...
(
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
) for a coastal trip from Sa Calobra to
Port de Soller A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...


Buses

Passengers board buses in the United Kingdom by either indicating to the bus driver they want to board (by queuing up at the bus stop or by holding out an arm) or by boarding when a bus has stopped at a bus station. Once on board passengers can either purchase a ticket for their journey or they can show a travel pass (such as an
Oyster card The Oyster card is a payment method for public transport in London (and certain areas around it) in England, United Kingdom. A standard Oyster card is a blue credit-card-sized stored-value contactless smart card. It is promoted by Transport ...
when passengers travel on London buses). On long-distance buses in Europe tickets are usually checked upon boarding whereas in Latin America fares or tickets are collected on the moving bus by an assistant to the driver.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boarding (Transport) Aircraft ground handling