I have a bug about boarding this week, it seems. Not only have I praised Ryanair’s boarding process for its efficiency, it has lead to a follow on idea about stairs versus the jet bridge.
For those down under wondering, a jet bridge is what you call an aerobridge. You know, the tube like tunnel you board through at the airport terminal. With me? Okay!
Stairs Are Better
In some respects, using the stairs is better. From a pure enjoyment of flying point of view, there is nothing like being out on the apron and seeing your aircraft as you board. The sounds, the sun, the breeze all make you feel like you’re part of the flying experience.
There are two issues of course. First, the weather. It is no fun boarding in very strong wind or when it is raining or snowing. It actually becomes a pretty horrible experience in that situation.
Another issue is when people have mobility issues or travel with children. It is not easy to tote a large carry on bag as well as hold a child’s hand to make sure they don’t fall down.
Even so, using stairs makes for a much faster boarding experience when both a front and a rear set are used on short haul flights. It is why budget airlines can turn flights around so quickly. I love them just for the pure feeling of nostalgia!
Aerobridges (Oops!) Are Better
For pure comfort, you can’t go past the jet bridge, aerobridge or jet way. You get to serenely pass from air conditioned airport terminal to air conditioned aircraft without a hair on your head being disturbed. Perfection! Obviously the price we all pay for this comfort is increased embarking and disembarking times.
Nothing is worse than being time poor and waiting for a lumbering loiterer to get a move on. A shame the days of dual jet bridges – one for the front and one for the rear – are no longer. They weren’t so common anyway.
Overall Thoughts
I’m an advocate of both methods of getting on board an aircraft. Why? It is the way you get on board an aircraft and it is quite a lot of fun being on one and flying.
While both have their advantages and disadvantages, I’ll take the stairs in good weather and the jet bridge in bad, thereby getting the best of both worlds. Now I’ve said that, next time I am in a rush you can bet I will be behind a slow moving passenger on a flight using a jet bridge.
Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image by Adrian Pingstone via Wikimedia Commons.
I don’t fly that much but know that by using stairs you can have more planes at an airport as they can be parked anywhere on the apron not just up against the terminal as is needed for the jet bridge.
That’s quite true indeed. Almost all the airports board some aircraft by stairs, for exactly the reason you say. Thanks for the comment!
The bridges are better as daft Chinese people can’t throw coins into the engine that way !!
Hahahaha! That was some story, wasn’t it? Talk about cultural differences…
The problem I have with stairs is that I have a ROLLING business bag for a reason. And often the stairs are SO narrow. The other problem, as you mentioned is weather. United thought it totally reasonable to deplane by stairs in ORD during an actual blizzard….. NOPE. Love the jet bridge.
It’s not that big a deal to hoist it up a few stairs, is it? Agree on the narrow stairs and some seem a bit rickety as well, though I’ve not heard of any collapsing. I would probably have also been really annoyed with the blizzard – that kind of weather is not only uncomfortable but must be a huge safety hazard as well. Thanks for the comment!
I Love Cold Weather And would gladly walk outside.
It can be quite dangerous though!
I live in ND. Not dangerous at all!
Good to hear – thanks!
I like stairs but glass jetbridges are really good as well.
Oh the glass ones are quite nice, I agree! They’re not all that common though I’ve found, but they are nice for the view!
For some reason they were not legal here in the US.
I’ll have to check that out and find out why!
A Senator probably owns the company which makes the current non-glass ones. Or is ‘lobbied’ (bribed) by company which does !!
Could be, you never know. I imagine the glass ones take more maintenance in cleaning the glass whereas the others you’d not need to bother. That’s my guess anyway!
As @simba discusses, one of the problems with jetways is the bus ride. Very few bus rides are enjoyable, so unless the weather is spectacular, I tend to prefer the jetway.
Funnily enough, someone on Facebook commented and I replied the same – something along the lines of it would be fine except for the bus and I hate the bus. I think everyone tends to agree on that one!
I’m not sure this issue even deserves discussion; it must be a very slow travel news day. What I do vehemently object to is the use of busses to transport passengers to and from the plane (with stairs) sitting on the tarmac. It mitigates some of the benefit to flying the premium classes and it’s a PITA. I’d like to better understand why this happens. It doesn’t just occur with budget airlines, but it does seem to happen at the worst and most crowed airports, e.g., FRA, LHR.
You actually have commented on a topic I am going to address, which is the use of bus and the impact it has on premium passengers or people with priority boarding. It really gets up my nose when you board first into a bus which then fills up with everyone else. I believe the bus is down to space at the terminals so it’s airport congestion in many cases. I know some airlines don’t pay to use a jetbridge at some stations as it’s cheaper not to (eg: Ryanair), but I’d say that is the exception rather than the norm.