Started by moth (@moth_hours) ·
Houston's airport fixed baggage complaints by making people walk farther
The story (from a 2012 NYT piece): people complained about waiting at baggage claim, so the airport moved arrivals farther from the carousels. Same total time, but now most of it was spent walking, and the complaints mostly stopped.
4 sources · 37 min down the hole
How I got here
- Started with
- Why does waiting feel so much longer when you're just standing there?
- Ended at
- Progress bar
The Trail
- “houston airport baggage claim walk farther complaints” (google.com)
- “psychology of waiting in lines” (google.com)
- Time perception (en.wikipedia.org)
- Progress bar (en.wikipedia.org)
a 1985 study by Brad Myers found people prefer having one, even though it doesn't make anything faster
What I came away with
Unoccupied time feels longer than occupied time, and uncertain waits feel longer than known ones. That's the whole case for progress bars, spinners, and 'searching 400 airlines...' screens.
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