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.
The prevailing view is expressed in this shirt making the rounds in social media: “Standing up as soon as the airplane stops won’t help you get off sooner.”
It turns out that versions of this shirt are for sale all over the internet.
The overwhelming majority of people seem to get frustrated and annoyed with passengers who stand up immediately after landing, especially on short flights. They perceive this behavior as inconsiderate and disruptive to the deboarding process.
Mostly they think it’s selfish, and doesn’t help speed up the deplaning process. They want people to follow their (imagined) rules. They’re also very wrong.
To be sure, you should be polite when you get up. 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.
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 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 not reasonable to criticize passengers for getting up to stretch, and to get their carry on bags down in order to deplane efficiently.
So go ahead and stand as soon as your plane lands and arrives at the gate. Don’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 separates expert travelers from the masses who are doing it wrong.
Gary and the experts are right on this–but ‘you do you,’ and don’t expect anyone else to care.
Yes, do not stand when the plane lands. You can injure yourself or others if standing while the plane is taxiing.
Anyone else notice how this is the norm on early Monday morning heavy-business routes and a mainline can unload in ten minutes while on a mid-week or Saturday arrival in Florida there are complaints from the elderly/tourists and it takes 30 minutes to unload?
“experts” Gary? Who exactly is an expert at getting out of a plane and where do they get this expertise from? Is there a school for this? An apprenticeship program? or are you just calling them experts because they agree with you?
When the planes stops at the gate, passengers should be getting ready to deplane. By staying seated, you are delaying everyone behind you from a speedier exit. I have witnessed too many times the people that stay seated until everyone in front of them is walking off the plane, that then pop up, have to gather all the items in their seat and then unload multiple rollaboards. By the time they start heading up the aisle, there is no one on the plane in front of them. It adds at least 1 minute (at the very least) to everyone behind them. Now multiply that by the number of people staying seated until the last second and you are delaying people in the back of the plane by 10+ minutes.
If people want to sit until the gangway is clear ahead of them, then they should choose to stay there until everyone behind them exits the plane.
Gary, Give up your crusade to have everyone jump out of their seats as soon as the “ding” sounds. Not everyone, especially in rows 3 and further back, need to jam the aisles and create annoyances with their rude and boorish behavior to gain a few seconds in deplaning. You need to accept the fact that not everyone agrees with you, so a monthly posting on deplaning etiquette (from your point of view) is entirely unnecessary.
“Getting ready to deplane, including getting things out of the overhead bin, speeds up the process”
By a marginal amount, if any.
“It’s polite to the middle seat passenger who’s been stuck in place for hours”
Not if you’re the window seat person and are now either trying to force your way past them or because of the low headroom looming over them.
“You’ve been stuck in an uncomfortable seat for hours, why not stand as soon as you can?”
Because then I’m stuck standing in intimately close relations with a random assortment of people, getting hit by luggage coming out of the overheads, and having to deal with the twerps who want to push their way forward.
Wow, those were the three reasons you have? They’re not even remotely convincing.
I agree with your 3 points.
Frankly, I do not care what people in the rows in front of or behind want. I will get up when I want to. And that is at the ding. If you want to stay seated, go right ahead. But, to be perfectly clear, you do not get to tell me to stay seated. Go right ahead and get steamed, I do not care.
These are the same people who merge on the highway 1/2 mile before being required to, thereby wasting their (and others’) time. They think they are being “polite,” when they are not.
https://www.acg.aaa.com/connect/blogs/4c/auto/zipper-merge-keeps-traffic-moving#:~:text=Does%20the%20zipper%20merge%20reduce,speed%2C%20and%20decrease%20road%20rage.
Very fair points, I can see arguments for both sides. Especially having sat down for multiple hours, it’s nice to stand up and stretch the legs a bit when you have the chance (another benefit of the aisle). In that regard perhaps standing up, getting a good stretch and sitting back down is a good balance.
Social pressure, as evidenced by the premise of these posts, is a big barrier to not doing that. Maybe we’ll get to the point when it’s socially acceptable to do either!
@American — This is the way. The ‘ding’ is where it’s at. Right-on!
@L737 — Sorry, buddy, we ‘part ways’ on this one. I’m a ‘ding’-bat, I suppose. Sometimes you gotta ‘pick a side’–and don’t let the ‘social pressure’ decide for ya. We’re just talkin’ deplaning, right?
I also don’t give AF what everyone who wants to stay seated thinks. You want to stay seated? Good for you. You can even stay until everyone else deplanes.
As soon as the plane is at the gate and the seat belt ding dings, I’m standing up. Those extra few seconds? I need them for the 32 minute connections from A to E at CLT.
There are plenty of people who have a difficult time getting their bags out of overhead bins. My standing up in the aisle and pulling down bags for 4′ 11″ ladies gets things moving faster. Getting out of my aisle seat (I also pull up the arm rest) lets the middle seat passenger spread out a bit for the 10-15 minutes it might take until they can actually start moving. Also, by hopping up, I create space for the bags that I pull down from the overhead bins.
Where are people going when they stand up? They still have to stand there clogging the aisles and wait for the entire airplane in front of them to deplane. And then they are blocking the ability for anyone else to get their bags out from the overhead (which is often a row ahead or behind because of other people filling up the “appointed” ones). Standing up when the rows in front of you begin to move takes the exact same amount of time.
If I’m in the aisle seat, I stand up when it dings. I open the overheads around me. I pull my bag out and that of my wife (usually in the aisle across from me) if there is room. I’ll assist others with their bags too. I don’t knock anyone in their heads with my bags. I don’t move forward to try to deplane earlier. All of this makes deplaning for everyone more efficient. That’s not up for debate.
Of course, if the flight is late, and the FAs ask, I’ll stay seated for those with tight connections, but so many don’t that it never works.
Do I get ever so slightly annoyed with those in front of me who don’t move until it’s time for their row. Not really. It would be more efficient if they had at least opened the overhead where their bag is, but it’s their choice. Bottom line, I’m not buying a t shirt claiming my choice is better for everyone (but I believe it is). Gary is right.
A different, but related question is, why do some people unbuckle their seatbelts as soon as the plane lands?
@Kevin — Woohoo, another one for the ‘ding’ team.
I thought minimum connection time (MCT) was 40 minutes for domestic at CLT. Unless ’32’ was just picking a random number, if the airline changes your schedule to something under the MCT, you usually can request a complimentary change to your itinerary (no change fee).
Gary had a previous post (from 2022) on tight connections in Charlotte:
https://viewfromthewing.com/a-warning-about-tight-connections-in-charlotte/
And also one about how CLT is a ‘nightmare’ for connections (from 2024):
https://viewfromthewing.com/navigating-chaos-why-charlottes-airport-is-a-nightmare-for-connecting-roundup/
Charlotte is a mess. The rocking chairs and old Admirals Club there do not make up for it.
We live in a time when people have a lot of opinions about other people. I keep my opinions to myself – unless it is the comment section on VFTW and then all of a sudden **I have a lot to say.**
If you’re seated in 42E then yeah maybe you might want to wait to standup. But it never ceases to amaze me the number of people that will sit there even as their row is up. Like no one wants to get off the a/c. No one has to go to the bathroom, no one has a connection to get to and might want to grab food, no one want to go home or get to their hotel, or no one has anyone waiting for them. They just want to spend more time sitting on an A321.