How Different Airlines Board Their Passengers
Yes, air travel is great. But between flight delays and seat outages, airlines also have a lot to complain about. For example, boarding procedures often annoy passengers because they seem random and pointless. However, madness has a method.
There are several different boarding procedures for major airlines. Of course, most airlines board their elite passengers first, but then they use a back-to-front method. SeatGuru explains :
Many airlines … sit backwards, so try to reserve a seat in the back if early boarding and luggage space is a priority. If you have a close connection and therefore your priority is to be one of the first to get off the plane, aim to take an aisle seat closer to the front of the plane. (But don’t expect your bag to have a lot of top shelf space.)
All Alaska, JetBlue and Spirit passengers board in a back and forth method. Delta and American also use this method, but they also split their boarding groups into nine different zones based on elite status, airline credit card customers, etc. After all of these zones, they use the back-to-front method for general boarding. …
According to SeatGuru, United Airlines uses a boarding process known as WilMA. It stands for Window, Middle, Aisle, and it’s basically a method from outside to inside. After elite passengers, passengers with window seats sit first, and passengers with aisle seats last. (Interestingly, in one episode of The Mythbusters, this was one of the most effective landing methods.)
Southwest boards randomly with no assigned locations . There are three different zones, A, B and C, and this is first come first come. You can sit wherever you want, so you have an advantage if you are in zone A. To score points in that zone, you can pay for priority boarding or try to check in early.
Whether you want to board first or just curious about your boarding group, it is helpful to know how airlines decide to arrange passenger accommodations. For example, if you don’t want to be forced to check in your luggage, you can opt for a back seat depending on the airline.