How should airlines coordinate their boarding procedure? It’s been a hot-button topic in the travel industry for ages. And solutions to this problem are like TSA horror stories: everyone seems to have one.

But unlike the average loudmouth complaining at the boarding gate, Jason Steffen has some cold hard facts to back up what he sees as the best solution. You see, Steffen is an astrophysicist who lives and breathes the scientific method. And he recently set out to find the fastest and most efficient way to board a plane.

He did so by filming and timing a series of replica boarding procedures inside of Hollywood sound stage in California. His crew tested out a variety of procedures popular in the industry today, including the  back-to-front method, window seats first, and of course the much maligned (yet widely used) block-row-boarding procedure.

Based on his trials, Steffan found that boarding by alternating rows was
most efficient, followed by boarding window-to-aisle seat. However, even letting passengers board randomly turned in a better result than the block-row method, according to the scientist.

Take a look at why Steffan thinks boarding by alternate rows is so efficient in the video below:

Source: MSNBC