Deplaning etiquette: Some passengers need to be the first to exit the plane. If possible, they’ll push and shove their way to the front to exit. There’s never an excuse for violence anywhere. I call them Aisle lice.
In December, we flew from the east coast to Los Angeles. It took about five and a half hours. We experienced turbulence for almost half the flight, but we arrived at LAX on time and taxied directly to the gate. Within moments of the plane stopping at the gate, the seatbelt sign was turned off. We were seated in row three and I got up and put on my backpack, then grabbed our roller carry-ons from the overhead bin.
While I heard nothing from the passengers on this flight when I quickly got up from my seat, I’ve heard anger from some passengers in the past. More than a few airline passengers think that everyone should stay seated until it’s their turn to get up when the row in front of them exits the plane. They sit and shake their heads, throw up their arms showing disgust and too often make belittling comments, calling those who get up quickly and grab their belongings in preparation to deplane spoiled brats or a particularly disgusting expletive.
It turns out that waiting to get up from your seat until everyone in front of you has left is wrong and slows down deplaning at the airport.
Those making snide comments to passengers like me who get up immediately are wrong. Frankly, after a five-and-a-half hour flight it’s absolutely fabulous to get up to stretch no matter where you are on the plane, particularly if you’re like me with a bad back.
Last summer, a passenger in the aisle seat across from me yelled at me for getting up quickly, saying,
“You’re acting like a first grader jumping up the moment the sign goes off to grab your bags and block the aisle. You’re selfish and slowing everyone from getting off the plane by blocking the aisle with your carry-on.”
Actually, the passengers who sit and wait for the seats in front of them to clear before they get up are being selfish. By getting up quickly, putting on my backpack with my camera gear and grabbing our carry-ons from the overhead bin, I’m ready to deplane immediately after the row in front of me moves toward the exit. The passengers who wait to get up and wait to grab their bags from the overhead bin slow everyone down, making those behind them wait longer for them to start moving.
Aisle passengers who get up quickly after the plane parks at the destination gate and the seatbelt sign is turned off give immediate freedom of movement to middle seat passengers, giving them relief from sitting throughout the flight.
In addition, when aisle passengers get up quickly, they give the middle seat passenger some immediate freedom of movement, something they didn’t have on the flight. That allows them to stretch a bit after being cooped up. If the aisle passenger is really polite, they’ll step back slightly to let the middle seat passenger get in the aisle and retrieve their gear.
In my opinion, there’s absolutely no benefit for deplaning passengers to remain seated once the seatbelt sign is off at the destination, unless, on a flight like I was on last month, the flight crew asks everyone to remain seated for a specific reason, such as to let paramedics on board to evacuate a passenger who was having a medical emergency.
Periodically, on a flight that’s arriving late, the flight crew will be alerted by the airline or passengers on their flight that some passengers need to deplane quickly to make their connection. I’ve been on many flights where as we begin our descent into the destination airport, the flight crew will ask everyone to remain seated so those who have tight connections can deplane quickly to get to their connection gates.
On my Los Angeles flight a man pushed and shoved to get to the front of the plane to exit first. When he got to me, I had my luggage and used it to help me protect my wife from being hurt by the passenger.
On my Los Angeles flight, as I was pulling my carry-on from the overhead bin, I heard a commotion coming from the back of the plane and saw a male passenger barreling down the aisle, pushing other passengers aside, yelling that he’d miss his connection. The door to the jetway was open as he tried to push me aside yelling at me, but the aisle in front of me was full and he couldn’t get past me. I blocked him so my wife could safely exit the plane. She’s small and I didn’t want to chance having her hurt. We exited and he bolted past us, almost knocking over a passenger in the jetway in front of me.
There are certainly reasons for needing to exit a flight in a hurry, and making a tight connection is one, but as I discussed, the airlines regularly help people making connections when flights are running late.
For seniors, getting off the plane quickly to use the airport lavatory is often very important, but pushing and shoving people out of the way to get off is never acceptable.
Another reason to want to deplane quickly is to use an airport lavatory. It’s a problem for many seniors who need to use the lavatory often, particularly on longer flights. Cabin crews often cut off lavatory access long before landing. On our flight with several bouts of turbulence that caused the pilot to turn on the fasten seatbelt sign often, time in the lavatory throughout the flight, particularly in economy, was a problem.
Over the years, particularly since airports dropped security at baggage claim where airport personnel matched passenger baggage receipts with the airline tag on the luggage, I’ve had someone grab my bag, possibly by accident. These days I have multiple tags and bag belts and a ribbon on my bag to show people it’s not their bag. Despite that, I try to get to baggage claim as quickly as possible to grab my bag as it arrives at the carousel, so no one can “accidentally” grab it.
After we deplaned in Los Angeles, the pushy, screaming passenger was at baggage claim. He lied about his connection.
After we deplaned at Los Angeles International Airport, we continued to baggage claim. When we got there, the pushy, screaming passenger was waiting for his checked bag. His bag came out just before ours and he exited the terminal ahead of us.
He lied about his connection. He had none.
He has what some call “exit envy.” I don’t think it’s actually envy. I think it’s more impatience and a lack of self-control. There are people who have a need to be first and it’s behavior we see on airliners too often. To me, it’s a form of air rage. Look at this passenger’s action, shoving people aside, screaming at them and lying about needing to get out of the plane first. Some call passengers like that, “Aisle lice.” That sounds about right to me. There’s no excuse for pushing and shoving passengers trying to deplane, even if they have a real reason. Violence can’t be tolerated. I wish the airlines would start doing something about it.
(Image: Southwest Airlines B737 landing at Philadelphia International Airport. Copyright © 2018 NSL Photography. All Rights Reserved.)
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After many years working in corporate America as a chemical engineer, executive and eventually CFO of a multinational manufacturer, Ned founded a tech consulting company and later restarted NSL Photography, his photography business. Before entering the corporate world, Ned worked as a Public Health Engineer for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. As a well known corporate, travel and wildlife photographer, Ned travels the world writing about travel and photography, as well as running photography workshops, seminars and photowalks. Visit Ned’s Photography Blog and Galleries.
