A TikTok selfie rant on a plane makes the case that if you deviate from front-to-back deplaning – if you “cut” forward in the aisle and pass a passenger that’s ahead of you – then “you are human dirt ❤️”. She argues deplaning should work like a queue: no stepping ahead of people seated in front of you. If you do, people will wish you get hit by a bus.
THIS! I enforce this rule.
HUGE pet peeve.
Unless you are late to a connecting flight, you're not more important than anyone else. You wait your turn to get off, aisle by aisle. It's called patience. You don’t blow by elderly people. Have some respect.
She is absolutely… pic.twitter.com/L2fcwxSUTL
— M-Û-R-Č-H (@TheEXECUTlONER_) December 3, 2025
Generally people think this is “basic manners” – deplaning is a line, cutting lines is antisocial, and rushing just to stand at baggage claim is dumb. People miss Covid-era row-by-row deplaning where you were supposed to stay seated until it was your turn to get up for social distancing.
On the other hand, what if people are slow and not ready? Take advantage of the break in aisle traffic and just get off that plane! It gets passengers off faster, and who deserves to be stuck in coach longer than they have to be?
Many, though, are on team “connections are the only legit exception” where letting passengers through so they don’t miss their flight makes sense, especially on a delayed inbound aircraft.
I make a different point. Standing early is rational. It’s not just better for you, it’s the selfless thing to do for everyone else. Get your bag down early so you’re not doing it while people wait on you in the aisle. And take advantage of all the space on the plane so others can get up out of their seats and spread out, too.
Here’s how deplaning should work:
- Get ready to get off the aircraft as soon as you are permitted to do so, including getting things out of the overhead bin. That speeds up the process, perhaps by a couple of minutes when others do it too. More people make tight connections!
- It allows those couple of minutes for cleaners to get on board and clean the aircraft (letting them do their job, and polite to the next passengers on the plane). It helps with the airline’s operation, too, which makes them more efficient and holds down costs and ultimately fares.
- It’s polite to the middle seat passenger who’s been stuck in place for hours when the person in the aisle seat gets up into the aisle. When you no longer have to have seat belts fastened, you want to take advantage of all of the space in the aircraft. The aisle seat passenger gets into the aisle, the middle seat passenger now has the space of the aisle seat to spread into, and the window seat passenger has a bit more elbow room as well. Why wouldn’t you use all of the space in the aircraft for comfort?
You’ve been stuck in an uncomfortable seat for hours, why not stand as soon as you can? Especially in an era of less-padded slimline seats, it’s time to give your back a rest.
There’s really little benefit to remaining seated until it’s your row’s turn to deplane. But what about jumping ahead of other passengers in the aisle to get off even more quickly?
- Be polite, let people know you have a tight connection, and do it without bumping into other passengers. Say excuse me!
- And if a row ahead is not ready and is just sitting there, “zipper merge” prevents aisle gridlock.
You only have so much time. Life is short. Don’t just sit there!
To all the entitled whiners out there, get over it. First they complain about the boarding because they are entitled to board at will regardless of the rules set by the Airline. They complain about Handicapped people, who incidentally would gladly trade places with any able bodied whiner. And finally, they complain about the process of getting off of the plane. Even the very last row will usually be off the plane within 5 to 8 minutes. I have been at the front of the cabin and I have timed it. All of you who love to complain, you need to take your Meds before boarding. You have no possible way of knowing what or why the person you have targeted for your disdain has going on in their life. A tight connection, a family emergency, feeling a little ill and needing a real restroom.
Take a deep breath and get over it. Surely you will find something else to complain about as soon as you get off the plane.
How about people wearing back packs that stick out 2 or 3 feet when boarding? Then they turn and hit others with those backpacks that are seated and cause injuries. I have been injured twice by backpacks strapped onto people’s backs. A recent flight this happened and the person’s backpack was laying on me after hitting me with it until I started screaming. Should be a rule that backpacks should be hand carried in front of the bearer and not strapped onto their backs causing injuries to others! I am always seated in first class when the backpack parade begins!
I stand up in a fluid motion, not at lightning speed. Recently, I was on a flight where nobody moved! I just got up, got my rollaboard from the overhead and proceeded to walk in a slow fashion. After 6 rows, I detected someone starting to get up so I let them get up and I stopped. If I got up with lightning speed and ran, I might have been able to get 15 rows.
Usually, this fluid motion type speed results in zero to 1 row advancement, never 6 rows!
I almost always choose window, and am ready to move immediately when actually able to get to the aisle, sliding over behind the center seat person as they make progress.
Last Saturday, DL in Seattle, as has becoming more common, there was an immediate rush of 5 or 6 early standers who just pushed by and wouldn’t even let me out to get in the aisle to get my bag from the overhead. Literally pushed past me trying to stand up. After several did the same to the center seat person. On a flight that was 25 minutes early.
There still need to be some standards of civility.
‘Human Dirt’… sheesh, can we get more Rwanda 1994 on here. Yeah, let’s amp up the de-humanizing language. Where are our resident bigots to call others ‘demons’ and ‘rodents’… what a horrendous timeline. Oh, and how’s this ‘fit’ with Duffy’s ‘be nice’ campaign? Crocodile tears.
I always say it’s like church pews when leaving the wedding – one row at a time, right then left, etc. That being said, if I have a very tight connection, I just make an announcement to the rows around me and ask to cut ahead. So far, this has always worked, and when someone does similar, I let them go ahead of me because I’ve been that person running a half mile with my gear in DEN to try to catch my connection.
Generally you should wait until the row in front of you empties out, unless there’s someone who doesn’t mean to get off yet – could be disabled, a continuing passenger, or just someone too engrossed in a cell phone to move along.
If you have a very tight connection, you may need to courteously ask to get ahead, but that should be done sparingly because there are plenty of jerks who could invent a close connection.
When the first few words of a blog post are “A Tik Tok selfie rant,” I’ll not waste my time listening.
Wow. Executioners are sensitive about etiquette. Who knew?
Hawaiians do it right.