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I really, really do not enjoy flying. As someone who has to get onto an airplane on a semi-regular basis, I really do not enjoy it (a feeling that has only grown over time). Honestly, there's nothing about the experience that I enjoy. From having to take out your laptop and liquids at security (regulations vary from airport to airport), standing in line at immigration, mishandled/lost baggage, flight delays and cancellations, there's a lot that makes the experience much less seamless than anyone would want. And that's before even getting into the metal tin that everyone is going to be sardine-packed into before hurtling being slingshotted through the air. And beyond the stale air and bland food, I would argue that air journeys are perhaps most distinguished by the collection of micro-frustrations. The toddler crying, the guy next to you encroaching into your armrest space, people who insist on carrying on bag that's obviously oversized, some idiot constantly kicking your backrest, we've all heard (and probably have had) the horror stories. One of the most frustrating and inescapable parts of the journey, though, is boarding. It's slow, laborious, always a little bit disorganised, and somehow even after so many years still never remotely efficient. In fact, there have been various proposals about how to improve boarding. The platonic ideal is what's called the Steffen Boarding Method, which uses mathematics to calculate the most optimal way of boarding a plane. Here's a very useful and illustrative video about various boarding methods: The Steffen Modified looks like it could work, and should be implemented. And yet no carrier has tried. Evidently, humans are too disorganised, unpredictable and bad at following instructions. Even 17 years after the Steffen Method was proposed, we're still terrible at air travel. Interestingly, the seemingly fastest boarding method currently is used by Southwest Airlines - no assigned seating. Literally, sit where you want. But even that is ending, with Southwest moving to an assigned seating system in 2026. We're literally moving backwards. Sigh.