Talk Topic: Airplane Boarding and Space-Time Geometry
Eitan Bachmat, Ben Gurion University & Brandeis
November 28, 2007

Abstract
We show how space-time geometry can be used to model the airplane boarding process. We study the effectiveness of airline boarding policies as implemented by announcements of the form "passengers from row 40 and above are now welcome to board the plane", often heard around airport terminals. we will show that the effectivness of such policies depends crucially on a parameter which is related to the interior design of the airplane (leg room, number of passengers per row). As the parameter increases the boarding policy experiences a phase transition in which it passes from being effective to being detrimental. unfortunately we seem to be on the wrong side of the phase transition.

We will also explain briefly the relation between fluctuations in airplane boarding time and random matrix theory.