Why is plane boarding done at the last minute, with everyone suddently queueing at the gate?

Some points are already covered by other responders but there is at least one more point that is missed and I’d like to cover that (esp contrasting priorities as I’ll explain).

1. In terms of maintenance and fueling, they have to do that and pass
   the plane as inspected and still good to go before deciding to
   continue as the next flight.
2. In terms of liability, the airlines want to minimize impact to them. Also general safety guidelines dictate that all the work is done before letting humans on board (in a confined space). There are a million problems that could occur starting from the terminal to take off to landing to terminal again. But the best chance of escape or reasonable rescue effort still would be in the terminal if not outside the airport. So again, less time in the aircraft means lower risk
3. Here is the conflicting priority to the above two. Airlines is a low profit margin business. As such any opportunity to increase profits shouldn’t be missed. Business and First class are the money makers for the airlines. They’d rather jump multiple hoops to satisfy one such traveler than 3 or 5 economy passengers. By starting off a queue with the moneymakers going in first, the attendants get a chance to let them settle, offer drinks/food and make sure they are fine. Then they could board others based on other priorities (perhaps economy-plus, perhaps upgraded comfort seats, old persons, pregnant women, etc).

If you remove any sort of priority from the above and put aside the maintenance work then the logical thing to do to expedite the boarding process (with a front boarding scenario) is to actually start boarding from the last row (tail side) first and proceed towards the beginning. This way, the ones in the last row won’t prevent the previous row from boarding and settling while they are still adjusting their bags and carry-ons.

I know this is an old question but the answer is very simple. In an aircraft’s daily schedule, the boarding window is only ~20 min per departure and it’s not at the last minute, its when the flight is scheduled to open which is when everyone begins to work that departure. In most cases, immediately after the previous flight closes.

Even if the previous flight closes early, because the aircraft arrived early, operations on the next flight likely cannot begin since crews, ground, cabin and gate, aren’t scheduled to work that flight until a certain time.

You realize a jet airplane costs hundreds of millions of dollars, right? Every moment it spends parked at a gate, instead of racking up revenue-miles, is a dead loss.

The airline wants to turn around every plane (that is, land; park; disembark all the old passengers; clean, refuel, and restock the aircraft; embark all the new passengers; and get back in the air) as quickly as humanly possible.

If a plane is sitting at a gate for an hour or two, that’s a mistake, and costly one. It’s a mistake that you, as a passenger, may benefit from, in the sense you can board at your leisure, but passengers as whole end up paying higher ticket prices because of mistakes like that.

Once a plane is cruising, the costs of going slow — the use of the aircraft, the salaries of the crew, and the patience of the passengers — have to be balanced against the costs of going fast — the increased consumption of fuel per unit distance and the additional strain on the airframe, but the costs of a plane on the ground aren’t balanced by anything but the practical difficulties of quick turnaround.

There are two main reasons.

1. Most people don’t want to spend any more time sat on a plane than necessary. Would you really want to spend an extra hour sat in one of those tiny seats?
2. It takes a lot of time to get a plane ready. The airline wants to minimise the amount of time the aircraft is idle at the gate. As soon as the passengers have left, the entire plane needs to be cleaned and restocked – that can’t be done with passengers on board. It also needs refuelling – which may or may not be legal to do with passengers on board.

Every minute the plane is on the ground is seen as lost revenue for the airlines. To have the plane idle on the ground while new passengers wander on and off the plane just isn’t efficient.

Supposition on my part but aircraft have to be used intensively or competition may force the airline out of business. This means turn-around times as short as possible. I would hope that while you are held back from boarding all kinds of checks are taking place – equipment functioning, brochures replenished, antimacassars tidy, left luggage and so forth – plus cleaning and replenishment of toilets and galleys. Possibly also refuelling, which is best conducted without passengers on board.

Your Virgin experience would be nice for all but you do not mention this is a regular feature for them. I suspect there was some reason, not standard, why that particular aircraft had completed all the necessary preparation rather longer before take-off than usual.