On United Airlines flight 2479 from Houston to San Francisco on New Year’s morning, just after arrival, a woman decided that her seat was “in the middle of the right aisle” of the Boeing 777 aircraft.
The plane had pulled too far forward at gate F19. Everyone had gotten up and taken out their carry-on bags. Passengers were in the aisle, ready to deplane. However everyone was told they’d have to get back into their seats – since they needed to have a tug push back the aircraft in order to connect the jet bridge. This woman decided she’d sit, but not in her original seat:
Just take a seat in the aisle…
byu/pa_goose inunitedairlines
One commenter online noted “you couldn’t pay me to sit on that floor.”
We’ve seen passengers seated in the aisles before, and sometimes in the lavatory. That’s in the very unusual case where planes depart with more passengers and seats. It’s certainly not standard procedure, and usually not allowed!
- In 2017, Pakistan International Airways gave 7 passengers on a Boeing 777 handwritten boarding passes to stand in the aisle of a 1,700 mile flight from Karachi to Medina.
- In 2019, a British family had to sit on the floor of a TUI flight from Mahon, Spain to Birmingham when the carrier swapped planes for an aircraft that didn’t have their row.
- In 2021, a Delta flight from Charleston, South Carolina to Atlanta left the gate with two more passengers than seats. Two employees traveling went up to the front to flag the problem and the plane went back to the gate.
This woman had a seat all the way back to San Francisco. I get that United’s coach seats aren’t well-padded and after a few hours in them your back can start to hurt. But I don’t see how the aircraft floor would be more comfortable.
Flying is not a luxury anymore. Flying is hell the way they cram everyone in the plane and very dangerous too. No one is getting out in 90 seconds. There should be a law against that.
I am pretty sure she didn’t have an aisle seat. Maybe she had got her luggage down and couldn’t put it up again without help. She wasn’t willing to abandon it in the aisle. The blunder seems to be on the pilot turning off the fasten seatbelts sign too early.
Check your hyperlinks-
The link to the 2019 TUI incident directs to the 2017 Pakistan International article
Ummm, no. I used to clean RONs. The carpets were usually cleaned a few times per year (with a machine like a Rug Doctor) and replaced during D-checks. D-checks are scheduled about six years apart, depending on the airframe. I’m surprised she didn’t have a stain on the seat of her slacks when she got up.
The floor of an airliner or an outhouse in a popular national park on labor day. Its a toss-up on the more disgusting germ ridden.
She ran from the back of the plane, against those getting up from their seats in front of her original seat. No way was she going to get way back there and have to wait 20 minutes to deplane. It used to be 5 minutes, but then the airlines started charging massive money to store your luggage in the luggage hold under the airplane.
This post pairs nicely with the earlier one from today where Gary got us fighting over whether it is appropriate (or not) to stand up once the aircraft has arrived at the gate.
Welp, folks, we found the line: If the aircraft starts moving again, you should go back. I know, it sucks, but if an issue arose, and an evacuation becomes necessary, you’d better be sure the authorities want you as close as possible to your assigned seat so they can identify the correct bodies.
What a hassle for the mortuary if you, a mere peasant of Basic Economy, just happened to score a preferred deathbed in the aisle beside United’s coveted Economy Plus. Your obituary would wrongly elevate you to the glorious achievement of ‘sightly more legroom’ and (somewhat) ‘priority boarding,’ but in the end death came for all classes and statuses alike. Poetic justice, indeed. Peace be with you, you floor-sitting, greedy schmuck.
It’s like nothing else is happening in the aviation industry right now, right?
Ewww.
Just ewww.
Carlos, actual evacuations have proven time and again the flight attendants can and DO get everyone out of the aircraft in 90 seconds.
This probably couldn’t happen today. Back in 2000, I was on a local flight in Patagonia, Argentina. The flight was overbooked, so I got to ride on the jump seat in the cockpit. Great experience, including avoiding the cow on the runway when we landed.
If you are below average height, those seats are incredibly painful
Hey there Gary Leff, Your reporting has the power to shape perceptions and inspire change. I wonder how much more impactful your work could be if it also highlighted the positive aspects of the stories you cover.
@Tom
Good point, sir. Kind of like that Jeju incident. Pretty sure they “evacuated” everyone in a… millisecond.
Funny a few months back arriving late to LAX on AA and after awaiting for the jetbridge to connect for awhile the Captain came on and said the tug had to move the a/c back about 20 feet as they missed the mark. He simply told everyone to hold on while we were pushed back 20 feet. No one was required to sit back down for a 3 second push.
“She ran from the back of the plane, against those getting up from their seats in front of her original seat. No way was she going to get way back there and have to wait 20 minutes to deplane. It used to be 5 minutes, but then the airlines started charging massive money to store your luggage in the luggage hold under the airplane.”
Ok, so if we want to make up a story, she had a tight connection and the flight was delayed. She was desperate to make the connecting flight because she had an appointment for a cancer treatment and was afraid to miss it.
How was that?
I prefer my made-up stories.
(1) She’s a surgeon and didn’t want to be late for a scheduled operation.
(2) She was pregnant and feared her water’d break before she deplaned.
Is her name Karen by chance?