Jump Airlines

Kris has this brilliant idea for an airline. It's called Jump Airlines. It was original conceived as a way to minimize the amount of time people take to board an airplane.

The concept of Jump Airlines is simple: to board the airplane, you have to jump an eight foot gap between the jetway and the airplane door. The jetway would also be a good half to full foot above the bottom of the airplane door, so that you can use gravity to help you make that eight foot gap. Passengers also get a running start to board the plane.

As an added bonus, every passenger can carry whatever he wants onboard the airplane, provided he jumps with it. You want to bring on a suitcase of lead bricks? No problem! Just run right up and jump the eight foot gap with your carryon, and you'll be on your way.

The idea is brilliant in its simplicity.

On the flight out to Arizona, Kris asked Andy, who had never heard of Jump Airlines before, and me about a new scenario for boarding passengers on a plane.

Say you line everybody up on the plane, 1 to 30 or so, as they're getting on board the plane. And a big steamroller comes down the aisle from the front of the plane every 30 people or so. It doesn't slow down.

How many times would you get messed up by this steamroller thing before you became very efficient at loading? What if you ran it every ten people or so? Will people start to trample the people in front of them?

Maybe a wedge-shaped steamroller could just shove people into their seats on the way by? Oh, yeah, and if you're the first into the row, you're automatically bumped to the window seat for more efficient wedge-shaped steamroller loading.

I think that Jump Airlines has its charms. I'm not so sure about the wedgie add-on.