| Random |
With Random boarding, the passengers arrive inside the airplane in no particular order. |
| Back-to-front |
This method imposes the formation of several groups of passengers based on their assigned seats in the airplane. The number of the groups can vary. Often, five equal-size groups of passengers are formed. When the boarding process starts, the group having seats in the rear rows (back fifth) of the airplane is called to board. The last group to board has seats in the front rows (front fifth) of the airplane. |
| Back-to-front mix |
This boarding strategy is a variation of the Back-to-front boarding method in which the airplane is divided into six equal-size groups. The groups are formed and numbered consecutively starting with passengers seated in the rear sixth of the airplane (group 1) and concluding with passengers sitting in the front sixth of the airplane (group 6). According to this method, the group numbers board in the sequence: 1, 3, 5, 2, 4, 6. Thus when group 2 boards, it takes seats between those of groups 1 and 3, and when group 4 boards it takes seats between those of groups 3 and 5. Variations in this method are possible by considering a different number of groups. |
| WilMA |
Also known as “outside-in” method, with WilMA, the passengers are divided into three groups based on the seat positions: near the window, in the middle of the row, or near the aisle. The first group called to board has window seats, the second group has middle seats, and the final group to board contains those passengers having the seats near the aisle. Within each group, the passengers board in a random sequence. |
| Reverse pyramid |
This method derives from the boarding rules of the Back-to-front and WilMA methods. A series of variations are possible for this method. As a result, the number of passenger groups can vary between 5 and 10. In each Reverse pyramid variation, the groups board following a diagonal scheme starting from the rear of the airplane with a group composed mostly (or solely) of window seat passengers and concluding with a group of passengers mostly (or solely) seated in the front of the airplane near the aisle. |
| Steffen |
According to this method, each passenger is called individually for boarding. The first passenger to board has the seat located in the last row near the window. The second passenger to board has the window seat two rows in front of the first passenger and on the same side of the aisle. The scheme continues until all the seats located in even rows (for an airplane with even rows), near the window, on one side of the aisle are occupied. The scheme continues then on the other side of the aisle (in even rows) starting from the rear of the airplane. Then, the seats located near the window in odd rows are called to board one by one starting from the rear of the airplane. The scheme continues until the final passenger boards who has an aisle seat in the first row of the airplane. |
