It’s because the airlines are monetarily incentivised to board slowly with assigned seats and group numbers, causing affluent passengers to spend more on preferred seatings, and you also spend more time in the boarding lobby where you can make expensive purchases.
This isn’t a conspiracy, either. They admit to it. Southwest Airlines used to brag about not doing it, and Delta announced the change to it a long time ago.
I’ve always wondered why group boarding takes such a long time…
https://youtu.be/oAHbLRjF0vo
It’s because the airlines are monetarily incentivised to board slowly with assigned seats and group numbers, causing affluent passengers to spend more on preferred seatings, and you also spend more time in the boarding lobby where you can make expensive purchases.
This isn’t a conspiracy, either. They admit to it. Southwest Airlines used to brag about not doing it, and Delta announced the change to it a long time ago.