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.
i’m elderly. i leave as quickly as i can. always have.
it’s not a church, it’s a plane.
so you want to call me human dirt?
fine i’m human dirt, and i’m ahead of you.
BAWAHAHAHAHA
Wow. Executioners are sensitive about etiquette. Who knew?
Hawaiians do it right.
Thanks Gary. Refreshing to have a new topic.
I guess while some are making rules for others, we should talk about people too short to reach their bags and people too weak to sling their bags. Those too short need to wear shoes with high heels and soles so they are tall enough to place their bags. If that is not enough, short stilts should be used. Those who are too weak to sling their bags should forgo a carry-on bag or pack one much lighter so they can get the bag into the overhead bin. Of course these requirements are sarcasm. I dislike it when the person in the aisle seat decides to wait to get up and get luggage situated to depart as soon as possible. It makes the one in the middle seat and the one in the window seat have to climb out and get overhead luggage while everyone behind has to wait. How selfish of the aisle seat passenger. I have had this happen a number of times while in the window seat.
I doubt I’m the only one to think this…
If I’m rushing to make a tight connection, I won’t notice if the entire cabin gives me the side-eye. I’m too busy freaking out about missing my next flight.
I am willing to bet that no one has a backpack that sticks out two to three feet (24 inches to 36 inches). Some backpacks may be thick but they are not that thick. I have bought a lot of backpacks, including ones for backpacking and know their specs. A 12 inch thick backpack can still whack someone in the face.
5 to 8 minutes for the whole airplane to deplane? Not in my experience. Maybe that for the coach cabin on the typical narrowbody. I have timed the deplaning on a widebody where I was in the aft coach cabin. From seatbelt sign out to my deplaning was around 20 minutes.
let be real, we were born to be a human dirt, unless you’re a saint…so I just go about my way when I travel…help people in actual needs and ignore the rest
Call me dirt. There has been a time I absolutely had to do to a connection so tight I had to try. I’m sure we’ve all been there.
A. Whiners need to get over the fact that people get up quick. I sometimes do that to stretch after sitting.
B. Backpacks should not be warn in the plane . Ive been whacked by them, no apology. Even in delta uniform deadheading. No apology. Now if I see a backpack close to my head, I push it out of my way.
I’m always in the front, so I don’t see much of the deplaning. But, I haven’t seen queue jumping in the longest time. On a delayed flight to DFW before Thanksgiving, they asked us to let off those with tight connections, and everybody else stayed seated. Maybe the people flying in and out of my home airport are just classier.
@This comes to mind — Or, DFW doesn’t value time. (And, ooh lala, always up front, look at yew…)
Another gen Z, younger millennial tik-tok idiot making histrionic complaints and demands that would be expected from someone no older than 15 or 16, tops.
Would love to tell you about the Russian family that ran to the exit with their children (one of whom smelled like full poopy diaper) on a recent long-haul Edelweiss flight to Zürich. They shoved past the business-class passengers and demanded to be let off first because the plane arrived 20 minutes late and somehow they thought they would miss their connection. The crew was rightfully shocked by their boorish behavior and politely ignored the man’s insulting “We are late because of you!” comment. One off-duty crew member at the front of the business cabin had some choice words to say about them in German, which it appears the Russians thankfully did not understand.
@Steven M. — I am loath to prejudge, yet, that has also been my experience with many Russians while traveling. At first, I recognized the misbehavior is individual, but, over time, I began to feel genuine concern for the neurotic society they must live under back home. Like, if you lived under Putin’s dictatorship, the threat of involuntary conscription to a ‘meat grinder,’ no real economic opportunity, most freedoms quashed, yeah, you too may feel you have to constantly ‘take matters into your own hands’ to survive. So, yeah, I don’t condone what the family in your story allegedly did, yet, I’m wanting to understand better why so many from that place are ‘crazy’ and what we can do to help them fight back against tyranny from within. (By the way, love seeing that confiscated Russian cargo jet at YYZ since 2022; don’t give it back until the war debts are paid.)
Plenty of human dirt in this comment section daily.
Lol…Americans talking about respect… while they put their outside shoes an chairs, sofas, tables, at home, in lounges, in aircrafts, on cruises, in all public spaces. As if they have a disability not allowing to sit properly.
That’s human dirt.
@Larry — As the Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros once said: “Be more constructive with your feedback, please.”
@Nope — Well, we’re not Japanese. We have no honor. Some of us live in cites where we at least take off our outdoor shoes and wear slippers in our homes, like civilized people.
No should not rush the aisle but the lard butts I see that take forever and a day to get off the plane. Maybe you have 30 minutes before Aunt Tizzy is going to meet you at the curb pickup but just maybe there’s someone in back of you that has a connection in another part of the airport and would like to go to the bathroom before boarding again. In other words when it’s my turn I move my ass whether I’m in a hurry or not.
If you have connection and your flight is late I’m more than willing to let people push ahead. Otherwise I have no problem being the last one off the plane. Plus, by then the cockpit door is usually open and I like getting a look into the front office.
This, and the replies remind me of my second favorite Flyertalk thread, where the original poster started a thread complaining about all the people who cut in line in front of him, after he was patiently waiting in line to get off the flight.
People were all, “Yeah! I hate line cutters”, until they figured out the real situation…
1st: Enforce a rule that no carry on goes into any bin that is not over your seat. PERIOD. That would stop a lot of folks having to find and then backtrack to get carry on.
2nd: Like the Brits do, enforce the zone boarding. NO gate lice. I saw this going to and from London this week on Virgin Atlantic and last month on British Airways.
3rd: So called “service animals” MUST be accounted for at the time of ticketing. NO LATE SHOWS. If I have to show a “REAL ID”, then there should be a “REAL ID” for service dogs issued by the state. MUST be noted in the PNR, too. No different than children under 24 months old (NOT 2 years old!)
4th: If you have a valuable musical instrument that you cannot check, buy it a seat if necessary. Inform the airline IN ADVANCE and have it noted in the PNR. If you’re a professional, then I’m sure it’s considered a business expense.
Lastly: I will admit that if I’m squashed in, I do want to stand up as soon as I can. Sometimes, people need to use the restroom too. I can see their anguish in needing to get off ASAP
If I am in an isle seat and don’t have luggage, I WILL RUSH THE ISLE!!! No I will NOT “wait my turn” and watch passengers in front of me move in slow motion as though, because it is “their turn,” they are entitled to take as much time as possible.
And if I have luggage, I will let passengers behind me exit and will only block the isle to grab my luggage when there is a pause in traffic.
Sorry if some think I am “human dirt” but if everyone were to do what I do, it would make the entire process less painful.