Some flyers believe that the best thing to do when your plane lands is to remain seated until it’s their turn to get off of the aircraft. They shake their heads, wondering why people stand up when they can’t really go anywhere until the doors of the aircraft open, and everyone ahead of them gets off first. This view is sometimes expressed in harsh terms, mocking those who stand immediately. But it’s also 100% wrong.
You may not get anywhere (much) more quickly, but you might be more comfortable and crucially by using all the available space in the aircraft you’re helping other passengers be more comfortable too.
In this video posted to Reddit’s KarenGoBrrr forum, a woman loudly berates a fellow passenger who stands up to stretch as the plane lands, expressing frustration with passengers who rush to stand or move forward prematurely.
You should be polite when you do it. Don’t try to run past everyone else in the aisles or climb over other passengers. But also, don’t react this way to passengers trying to make progress when the plane comes to a complete stop and the seat belt sign is turned off. This video is very much not safe for work (or work from home):
It wasn’t the message, it was the delivery of the message
byu/TheManager_1 inKarenGoBrrr
There are three reasons to get up right away – why it benefits you and most importantly benefits your fellow passengers.
- Getting ready to deplane, including getting things out of the overhead bin, speeds up the process. That means getting everyone off the aircraft a couple of minutes faster. And that means more people make tight connections (which is polite to your fellow travelers). It also means allowing those couple of minutes for cleaners to get on board and clean the aircraft (polite to the cleaners, 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. While there’s no real obligation to cram into the aisles immediately (except perhaps an obligation to make a little room for the passenger in the middle seat to stretch out), it’s certainly not reasonable to criticize passengers for getting up to stretch, and to get their carry on bags down in order to deplane efficiently.
You should stand as soon as your plane lands and arrives at the gate. You shouldn’t wait until everyone in the rows ahead of you has had their turn to get off the plane. This helps everyone stretch out a little bit, and move faster off the plane, which benefits other passengers, the airline, and ultimately you too. It’s the sort of forward-leaning behavior that’s the hallmark of high performers.
Since the video was posted to KarenGoBrrr, I assume it may not be new plus the Instagram account credited doesn’t seem to have it among its latest posts (though perhaps it was a story rather than post). However I certainly hadn’t seen this particular meltdown before – and it’s illustrative of an important idea about flying (and landing) that many people get wrong.
Amen! Never understood the ones that remained seated until everyone in front of them deplaned then leisurely stood and started to get items from the overhead. I don’t care what anyone else thinks – I almost always book an aisle seat and as soon as I hear the “ding” at the gate I stand up. Now I don’t rush past anyone and wait until the rows in front of me have deplaned before moving but I am so sick of sitting that standing feels much better (plus it is helpful for the other reasons you stated). The only thing I do differently depending on the aircraft is remove my overhead when I stand. If others are standing I don’t take it out (but do have it positioned to move quickly when it is my turn). On the other hand if there is plenty of room or in a bulkhead or exit row I have my roller bag down, laptop bag on top and ready to get off as quickly as possible.
If some idiot came after me like she did they would get it right back. I don’t tolerate idiots very well and at this stage of my life (retired and financially set) I don’t bite my tongue either.
Upon parking at the gate/stand for deplaning, it’s generally practical and beneficial for at least one or two passengers per row to get up as soon as allowed to unbuckle and to carefully open the overhead bins to help others more safely and quickly get off the plane.
While I really enjoy most of the posts, this one really got to me. i dont read these posts to learn how to de-plane. Most of us who read a travel blog are seasoned travelers. As a Diamond on Delta (whom has had a very crappy year with customer service, poor non trained brand new FA, old 757 where screens dont work, I dont think we all need to hear about how to deplane and what and how to do it. Just saying. Your other posts are quite interesting, but to post something like this shows you must feel most of us dont fly a lot and I dont think that is who reads a travel blog.
First, if the crew demands that I remain seated, I will comply; everyone should.
But if it is our discretion, then I agree with Gary’s take, as I also prefer to stretch my legs and to prepare my carry-on for deplaning.
I tolerate the different opinion of those those who prefer to remain seated, as that is their choice, but those people have no authority to tell me what to do. I will not comply with their preference.
In the coming years, such an outburst as the one here may not be tolerated, especially depending on who happens to be the person delivering that feedback. You know exactly what I am saying.
The seats are uncomfortable/seats are too small is like a rental car customer who picks the cheapest clown car, complains about it (and maybe thinks “the government” ought to do something about these rental cars), and then gets out to stretch his legs at a red light.
lolol
Fair points about people who fumble with their bags and while (selfishly) holding up the queue. If it takes you more than a few seconds to get your stuff down, move aside into an empty row in front of you and wait for a bigger gap. “You bring it, you sling it.”
Fair-ish point about the aisle seat person standing up to give the middle seater more room, although there isn’t room in the aisle for every aisle seat person to stand up.
There’s another fun aspect to this people watching. Next time you’re on an airplane, watch how many people *push* four wheel (“spinner” style) luggage up the aisle as they’re getting off. Count how many armrests they bonk on their sojourn from their seat to the door.
Anxiety really gets into a lot of people’s heads when they’re traveling by air, so we might as well get a few laughs out of it.
Traveling in window seat, I appreciate it when the people in my row get up and in the aisle. Even it I cannot get up myself, I at least have a bit more room to stretch until I can get out. Some people just like to bully others and the person complaining of others getting up is one of those. She does not speak for more than a small minority of airplane passengers and probably makes most of them ashamed of the language she is using.
The people that try to jump the line from the rear of the jet are rude. The people that sit further up front with their bag stowed in the overhead further aft are rude as they force themselves against traffic to fetch their bag. Be patient people.
This is hilarious. The level of First World problems folks have!
I dare the lady to fly in other countries especially in South-East Asia or South Asia. She might decide to never fly in her life again! Which might be good thing for her co-passengers.
What amazes me is she’s dropping an F-bomb in every sentence while lecturing him about offending other people. I bet her language offended waaay more people than his getting up.
I have no problem with aisle people getting up provided they have the space to do so. I do not buy into the “I need to stretch” argument at all. If you are the seasoned traveler you say your are, you’ve been getting up periodically during the flight to stretch anyways (on flights greater than 3 hours duration…anything shorter you really don’t need it unless you have some kind of medical issue). If you have sat in your seat the whole flight, then maybe you aren’t as seasoned as you think you are.
However there have been times when I have had the aisle and didn’t get up until the line ahead of me cleared. This has been because of overhead bin issues where I had to put my bag somewhere other than my row. In my view, any passenger facing this situation who has the aisle should sit. You can’t easily get your bag and I despise the jackasses who rush down or up three aisles knocking others around just to get their bag. Wait for the space to free up so you can get your bag without, y’know, risking having it hit other passengers.
Couldn’t have said it better!
God bless the whiners who think they should dictate the behavior of everyone else on the plane. However, when that ding goes off I will immediately stand because I need to get the circulation going before I can actually begin the walk off of the aircraft. Even when in years past I would always sit in the rear of the aircraft in a window seat, I always had the ability to stand when that ding sounded as I cleared the overhead bins by a couple of inches. If I upset anyone when and where I stand, deal with it and keep your opinions to yourself.
@jeff taratoot Not every article here interests me. Know what I do? I stop reading it and don’t post, because: why? I also don’t complain when a restaurant adds an item to the salad bar I don’t eat. Adding an article that doesn’t interest you makes you no worse off. Why post a complaint?
Oh, and, BTW, did you notice a number of people actually seem to have liked the addition of this article?
We generally remain seated until our row is ready to exit. But then we do not do carryon so all we are taking off is our small backpacks which had been under the seat in front of us. So we aren’t horsing some heavy thing out of the overhead bin.
@ jeff taratoot. “De-plane” was Herve Villechaize’s (Tattoo on Fantsy Island) line. I think you meant disembark . . . as in leave a ship, airplane or other vehicle.
I always sit on the aisle and always stand a split second after the beep goes off, precisely for the reasons stated. Nobody has ever complained and in fact I think most people appreciate it.
See you next Tuesday, KarenGoBrrr
Thanks, Gary. This article is one of your best. The de-planing process is chaotic and disorganized on every airline, particularly Diarrhea Delta. Stating what should be obvious advantages to quickly getting up after the seatbelt sign is turned off is much needed. Even veteran passengers like me, an unfortunate Diamond-Miler, greatly appreciate you delineating these advantages for everybody.