Model notes
Board the Plane runs a small deterministic simulation. The numbers below are game assumptions chosen to be plausible, not fitted to any study, and a result only says how your order did on that one flight with these assumptions. It is not a ranking of boarding methods in general.
How it works
- One aisle, one body wide, 30 rows of six seats, a front door. The clock starts when the first passenger crosses the door and stops when the last one sits.
- Passengers walk to their row without overtaking. A passenger lifting a bag blocks everyone behind; the space behind a stowing passenger stays clear, which is why people two rows apart can stow together and people one row apart cannot.
- A window or middle passenger whose neighbours are already seated waits while those neighbours stand in the aisle (a seat shuffle).
- Bag, walking speed and stow time belong to each passenger and come from the flight's seed, so every method boards the same people.
Constants
| Constant | Value | Unit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time step | 0.05 | s | fixed; playback speed only changes ticks per frame |
| Rows | 30 | rows | six seats across (A–F), one aisle, front door |
| Row pitch | 0.8 | m | distance between row centres |
| Door to row 1 | 1.5 | m | x = 0 is the door threshold |
| Body width | 0.45 | m | aisle bodies are never closer than this |
| Walking spacing | 0.55 | m | minimum centre distance between walkers; nobody overtakes |
| Stowing clearance behind | 0.6 | m | space kept clear behind a passenger stowing or letting others out; one row apart cannot stow together, two rows can |
| Entry gap | 1 | s | minimum time between passengers entering |
| Entry clearance | 0.55 | m | threshold zone that must be clear for the next entry |
| Walking speed minimum | 0.7 | m/s | uniform per passenger, from the seed |
| Walking speed maximum | 1.1 | m/s | uniform per passenger, from the seed |
| Carry-on share (default) | 0.8 | fraction of passengers | adjustable 0 to 1 in steps of 0.1 |
| Stow time minimum | 6 | s | passengers with a carry-on only |
| Stow time maximum | 14 | s | passengers with a carry-on only |
| Sitting down minimum | 1 | s | with the seats between aisle and seat free |
| Sitting down maximum | 2 | s | with the seats between aisle and seat free |
| Seat shuffle base | 2 | s | when seated neighbours must stand to let someone in |
| Seat shuffle per neighbour | 3.5 | s | added for each seated neighbour who stands |
| Flight size | 180 | passengers | 30 rows × 6 seats, full flight |
| Simulation limit | 14400 | s | the engine throws past this (a deadlock guard) |
| Stall limit | 600 | s | the engine throws if nothing changes for this long |
Model version 1.0.
Context
Jason Steffen's work on airplane boarding is the background for the ideas here: Optimal boarding method for airline passengers (arXiv:0802.0733) and Steffen & Hotchkiss, Experimental test of airplane boarding methods (arXiv:1108.5211). They are cited as context only; this model does not reproduce their figures.