People are often curious about how #mathematics can make an impact on everyday activities. The way we board an airplane is a great example. But it's an even better example of why organisational inertia, or sometimes just plain old capitalism, prevents provably better methods from becoming the standard way to get things done.
Originally shared by Greg LindenThis Vox article is pretty fun, but it turns out the main factor in longer airplane loading times is the amount of carry on luggage people are taking on board. See the paper the Vox article cites (http://arxiv.org/pdf/0802.0733.pdf) and, for example, on page 6, where the paper states that if people have little carry on luggage, the order boarding the plane doesn't matter.
So, it probably turns out the problem is more that the way airlines charge for luggage (and encourage carry on rather than checked luggage) is what makes absolutely no sense.
So, it probably turns out the problem is more that the way airlines charge for luggage (and encourage carry on rather than checked luggage) is what makes absolutely no sense.
The way we board airplanes makes absolutely no sense
For airlines - no hand luggage is faster loading/unloading. = more flight time better use -> profitability yadda yadda.
For passengers means reduced security, less facility and for some - longer exit queues.
For terminals it means more baggage handling, increased larceny.... Blah.
I'm sure one can model all those variables and use Math to find the optimum solution, but then there's us...
The obdurate, arrogant, flying public that eschew optimum solutions for personal preference. Now it is so complex - it is easier to design without reference to optimal usage, to allow inefficiencies in life cycle in favour of efficiencies of production and to create situations where a mathematical analysis can criticise what has been made.
In this instance, maybe the math is trying to push the string. It is too late. That plane has flown!
When this is done well, it frequently decimates an industry. Companies that ignore optimality as being too complex are often left scrambling to pick up the pieces, wondering -- how did this happen to us?
Amazon has done exactly this to the publishing industry, and to retail.
Whether or not one likes the results, (and there are plenty of consequences to Amazon's business model that have consequences not to like) the reality is that they've optimised a huge part of the supply chain, and they are exceedingly data driven.
What's even more interesting is that the airline industry were one of the earliest adopters of operations research in the 50s & 60s, and still today use OR and mathematical optimisation models to extract maximum efficiency from route & crew scheduling, ticket pricing, and a host of other things.
So the "blind spot" around optimal aircraft loading is conspicuous in its inefficiency.
http://www.wired.com/2015/07/hey-look-nightmarish-idea-plane-seating-ever/?mbid=social_gplus