

How to Reduce Plane Boarding Time by 4x - npk
http://arxiv.org/abs/0802.0733
This is the best use of MCMC to hack "the system."  Perfect "surprising result" for a Y Combinator application.
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thorax
To save you some reading time, the algorithm appears to be: Load the first 10
or so people in alternating rows only (not the same row and not adjacent rows)
from rear to front. After they are done, load the next 10 people in
alternating rows only from rear to front. Repeat.

This assumes that loading luggage into overhead bins is the biggest time sink
for most loading. It maximizes the number of individuals who can be loading
overhead compartments at any one time, rather than everyone waiting for the
person at the front of the line to load their baggage 1-2 at a time or so.

~~~
thorax
They go on to state that doing it by blocks rather than strictly alternating
may work better for cases of families that cannot be split up.

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DougBTX
I don't see any mention of free-seating, where people are not assigned seat
numbers in advance. As this is the method which the cheapest airlines appear
to use, where time/cost pressure is at a maximum, I suspect that it does well
in practice so I'm disappointed that the author did not consider it.

~~~
edw519
Southwest captured an entire industry. This was one of the major reasons.
That's the difference between "research" and "practice".

