In the long list of airline travel headaches, the boarding process has to be right up there with paying bag-check fees and finding just one freakin' Starbucks, please. Why does it take so long? There has to be a better way. Well, it turns out that there is — many, in fact. The one thought to be the most efficient was conceived by an astrophysicist, and it's called the Steffen。
He solved the problem using a computer program called a Markov chain Monte Carlo optimization algorithm, but the important part is the solution: It's most efficient if you board passengers in every other row, back to front, window seat to aisle seat.
as/tro/phy/si/cist /,æstrəʊ'fiːzɪsɪst/
Markov /'mɑrkɔf/
chain /tʃen/
algorithm /'ælgə'rɪðəm/