Investigating the Random Seat Boarding Method without Seat Assignments with Common Boarding Practices Using an Agent-Based Modeling

Abstract

Research related to creating new and improved airplane boarding methods has seen continuous advancement, in recent years, while most of the airline companies have remained committed to the traditional boarding methods. Among the most-used boarding methods, around the world, are back-to-front and random boarding with and without assigned seats. While the other boarding methods used in practice possess strict rules for passengers’ behavior, random without assigned seats is dependent on the passengers own way of choosing the “best” seats. The aim of this paper is to meticulously model the passengers’ behavior, especially, in random boarding without assigned seats and to test its efficiency in terms of boarding time and interferences, in comparison with the other commonly-adopted methods (random boarding with assigned seats, window-middle-aisle (WilMA), back-to-front, reverse pyramid, etc.). One of the main challenges in our endeavor was the identification of the real human passengers’ way of reasoning, when selecting their seats, and creating a model in which the agents possess preferences and make decisions, as close to those decisions made by the human passengers, as possible. We model their choices based on completed questionnaires from three hundred and eighty-seven human subjects. This paper describes the resulting agent-based model and results from the simulations.

Testing New Methods for Boarding a Partially Occupied Airplane Using Apron Buses

“…For the preferential seat assignments case, we considered the data extracted through a questionnaire in Delcea et al [8]. In that study, the row preference (see Figure A11 in Appendix B), column preference (see Figure A12 in Appendix B), and category importance of passengers (see Figure 9) was determined.…”

“…By applying this function for each agent, a particular seat in the airplane was allocated in accordance to his/her preference to a seat near the window/middle/aisle, considering the front/middle/rear part of the airplane, and the preference/antagonism for the crowded areas of the airplane. For details on how this function is incorporated in the agent-based model, please see Delcea et al [8].…”

“…Figure 1 provides an example of such a ticket issued by a European airline company in which the rear door is suggested for the boarding of a passenger having seat 22A. Even though the use of apron buses has been increasing, research on boarding methods with apron buses has lagged behind [7], and there are only a few studies in the literature that suggest boarding methods that can be successfully applied in the presence of the apron buses [6][7][8].…”

“…Furthermore, as some of the airline companies offer their passengers the choice of selecting their seats through a mobile application or website (see Figure 2), two seating situations are considered: the first one (random seat assignments) refers to the case in which the airline company assigns the seats to the passengers randomly without using any particular scheme, while the second one (preferential seat assignments) assumes that the passengers have the option to select their seats prior to boarding through a software application or an airline webpage. To model the seat selection process the passengers might employ prior to boarding, we utilized results from a questionnaire that is summarized in Delcea et al [8]. Through the questionnaire, Delcea et al [8] gathered passengers' relative preferences for a window/middle/aisle seat, a seat in a row near the front/middle/rear of the airplane, and a preference/indifference/antagonism to crowded areas.…”

“…To model the seat selection process the passengers might employ prior to boarding, we utilized results from a questionnaire that is summarized in Delcea et al [8]. Through the questionnaire, Delcea et al [8] gathered passengers' relative preferences for a window/middle/aisle seat, a seat in a row near the front/middle/rear of the airplane, and a preference/indifference/antagonism to crowded areas. Of those passengers expressing a particular preference as being "highly desirable," a window seat and a row close to the front of the airplane are the most popular choices.…”