Have you boarded a plane from the right?

Have you ever boarded a plane from the right-hand side?

I know, you never would have.

Have you wondered why?

Source: International Registry of Shipping

Why you would have never boarded a plane from the right-hand side has everything to do with ships.

If you look at a ship from the top, the right-hand side is called the Starboard. Anglo-Saxon languages have this tendency to smash words together and that is how we end up with long-ass German words. In old English the steering was known as Stéor and bord meant the side of the boat. Smashing them together gave us Stéorbord. The modern version of it is Starboard.

Before wind, steam and coal-powered shipping, ships used to be steered with oars and hence the side that had to face the port had to retract the oars. It could be steered only from one side.

The steering of the ship used to be on the right side hence Starboard and the other side parked towards the Port and hence Port.

In ships, it is standard to board from the Post side because you would not want to swim in from the water to get into the ship. That convention stuck and got carried into the airline industry.

When you board a plane from the left you are boarding from the Port side.