Airplane etiquette debates are nothing new, but a recent exit row incident on a United Airlines flight raises a more interesting question: where does safety enforcement end and self-appointed policing begin?
Exit Row Passenger Refuses To Stow Laptop For Takeoff On United So Another Passenger Takes Matters Into His Own Hands
A Reddit user shared the following story about a recent flight incident on United Airlines involving an exit row passenger who refused to follow crew instructions:
“On a flight earlier today sitting in the exit row in 21C. The dude across the aisle in 21D is one of those who is on his phone the entire time the plane is boarding, tapping on his laptop.
The door closes. We push back and start to taxi.
An FA comes by and says ‘Sir, please stow your laptop until we are above 10,000 ft.’
He pretends to shut his laptop, keeping his finger between the lid and keyboard to prevent it fully closing. 30 seconds later he’s got it open again, tapping away once the FA leaves. I sigh.
We finally pull onto the runway and I say ‘Hey man, are you gonna stow that thing before takeoff? You know that’s a heavy laptop that can become a deadly weapon if we have an emergency like they just had at LaGuardia.’ He groans. Tried to ignore me. I say it again.
He puts his laptop away until we are at maybe 1000 ft. Then pulls it out again. And keeps it open until it’s officially allowed above 10,000 ft.
When the seatbelt signs came off I went back and told the FA to watch him on descent. He’s in an exit row. And laptops can be a problem in emergencies. She thanks me.
They made a comment to him as we start our descent and he keeps his laptop away until we are on the ground.
What a Dbag. Sorry the safety of others is an inconvenience to you bud. But good thing you were wearing that N95 to keep yourself safe. 🙄
21Dbag”
I understand the irony about wearing a mask while failing to protect others in more real ways…
Follow The Crew’s Instructions…Especially In The Exit Row
Let’s start with the obvious point: the passenger with the laptop was in the wrong.
Electronic devices like laptops must be stowed during taxi, takeoff, and landing by law and for good reason. In an emergency, loose objects can become projectiles or obstruct evacuation.
That concern is even more important in an exit row. Passengers seated there have additional responsibilities. If something goes wrong, they may be asked to assist…not create additional hazards. A large, open laptop is exactly the kind of object that can slow down an evacuation or injure someone in a sudden stop or impact.
So no, this is not a “harmless” rule to ignore. When a flight attendant tells you to stow your laptop, you stow your laptop. Period.
But This Isn’t Your Job…
That said, the self-appointed enforcer strikes me as the annoying guy who shakes his neighbor awake during the safety instruction video because “you need to listen, it’s the law!”
Sure, it’s frustrating to watch someone blatantly ignore instructions (at least he wasn’t playing music loudly). But confronting another passenger during taxi and takeoff is rarely going to improve the situation. If anything, it risks escalating it. Enforcement is not your responsibility!
That’s what flight attendants are there for. If there is a safety issue, notify the crew and let them handle it. Repeatedly engaging another passenger often creates more tension than it resolves.
There’s also a certain irony here: trying to “help” by creating a confrontation during takeoff isn’t exactly contributing to a safe cabin environment either.
Thus, this is really a story about two different kinds of poor judgment.
One passenger couldn’t be bothered to follow a simple safety instruction.
The other couldn’t resist inserting himself into a situation that wasn’t his to manage.
My takeaway is two-fold:
- Follow the rules, especially when they relate to safety and especially when you’re seated in an exit row.
- And if someone else doesn’t? Let the crew deal with it.
I find 21C the bigger tool than 21D…
CONCLUSION
The passenger who refused to stow his laptop was clearly in the wrong. Flight attendants’ instructions exist for a reason, and ignoring them, particularly in an exit row, should result in immediate re-seating becuase it does present a possible safety risk.
But the fellow passenger who decided to intervene crossed a line as well. Air travel works best when passengers follow instructions and mind their own business…let flight attendants do their job, please.
The guy who spoke up isn’t a bigger tool than the one who deliberately disobeyed the crew and created a safety hazard. I wouldn’t have told anything to the guy and people should mind their own business, but to pretend they’re both equally wrong, or even the former being worse than the latter is disingenuous IMO.
YMMV…I can’t stand the self-appointed school line leaders.
Couldn’t disagree more. As they say in the London underground, “see it = say it= sorted.”
On the Underground it’s more likely to end, “See it = say it = stabbed 14 times in the chest”.
Yeah, not really.
Well Matthew the beauty of our country is that you’re entitled to your wrong opinion.
It’s up to all of us to reinforce societal norms. If somebody cut in front of you in a long line, you’d just take it until the line police came around? I wouldn’t. Maybe that makes me a bad person.
Apples and oranges, from my POV. Using the laptop doesn’t hurt you or even disturb you – it’s about a theoretical problem later versus someone playing music out loud or cutting in front of you or stealing from you, all of which require an immediate response. The baby screaming is the more difficult issue. I also don’t think it is up to the passenger to tell the baby’s parents to keep the baby quiet. It is the FA’s job.
I’m with you on this one Matthew. As a passenger I don’t have any authority to instruct or criticize another passenger regarding their behavior unless it threatens my own immediate safety or the safety of other passengers. It’s the airline’s plane, liability, and staff who are operating it and their responsibility for what happens within it. By inserting myself into such a situation as described above is confusing, inappropriate and crosses a boundary that I have no right to cross.
Most importantly, it will only escalate the situation instead of deescalating it.
Michael,
On this situation you are correct on the appropriateness of passenger intervention when a FA is unavailable (strapped in for take off). Matthew is perhaps ‘politically correct’ but his approach leaves passengers in danger of a heavy flying projectile in the event of an emergency. See something, say something.
I don’t think that falls on us and risks creating an even bigger safety issue. A DB going to be a DB…I’ll play the odds and keep my mouth shut.
But this Debbie Do Gooder in 21C sounds like the one who would also call out someone for not putting their phone into airplane mode…
I’m with 23C. He did what he needed to for everyone’s safety, and was successful.
I mean you clearly come across as a prick yourself writing posts like these.
Can’t please everyone…
I disagree with you Matthew. If something happened during the takeoff or there is something that the pilots need to do when taking off (sharp turn, wind shear, etc..) the idiot with the laptop could have the laptop get stuck in the side of the seat, fly in the air like a projectile. 10 minutes won’t hurt the person. I might have done the same thing or at least turn on the flight attendant button. Maybe the idiot loses the ability to fly or get fined. Annoyance is one thing, safety is another and someone who sits in the Emergency Exit row doesn’t want to comply with safety, they should sit somewhere else and get on a flight that they don’t have to be constantly on their laptop.
We can respectfully disagree here…I stand by my position, but certainly see your point.
LOL… I guess we saw how effective the flight crew was dealing with the situation even after it was brought to their attention…
Karen was probably a nonrev employee.
Not so sure …. That could cut both ways … As a non-rev, I know my ‘place’ in the airline caste system. Speaking up or out can result in suspension or termination of pass privileges. Put up, shut up.
I couldn’t disagree more. Having been a flight attendant in an age gone by, we learned just how the proverbial sh*t can hit the fan during an emergency – on takeoff or landing. The guy with the laptop is a douche. If that plane had to deaccelerate halfway down the runway during an aborted takeoff, that heavy laptop could easily become airborne and a deadly weapon that could have maimed somebody. Sorta’ like an umbrella launching into the cabin with the velocity that can pierce a human being like a seppuku sword. Yeh, we watched training films that demonstrated just how dangerous unstowed items can become in an abort or go-around. The umbrella actually pierced a piece of plywood (was the human) with that kind of G-Force. So, yeh, when a douche refuses to obey safety regs, and the F/As are already in the jump seats, what do you do? I say … tell the douche to stow the damn laptop and stop being an arse.
Excellent use of *seppuku* in an analogy.
First responder here. Couldn’t agree more.
If this is happening during taxi then 21D’s only option is to ring up the call button which likely gets ignored if they’re about to takeoff. They can’t get up and discretely tell the FA. So 21C knows who’s ratting him out either way.
Sounds like 21C played the only card that would’ve worked given the situation.
100% agree with Sharpster. Not only was I a Flight Attendant, but also am Emergency Procedures Instructor.
Look up British Midland Flight 92, G-OBME incident, January 8, 1989 , link below –
https://www.faa.gov/lessons_learned/transport_airplane/accidents/G-OBME
Or even the recent Air Canada CR9 incident where the a/c hit the Fire Truck. Sudden decelerations make anything loose a projectile.
Seriously Matt, you may want to stay in your lane when it comes to cabin safety. To paraphrase Ray from Mr. In between, people are a**holes because we let them get away with it.
No, sorry. FAs are perfectly capable of managing their cabins without Deputy Fife butting in.
@Matthew, how exactly are they supposed to manage the cabin from the very front/back of the (narrowbody) aircraft during taxi/takeoff/landing? An open laptop isn’t exactly an emergency, so they won’t rush down the aisle to address it. IMHO, 21C took the best course of action available to them and then followed up with F/As later. Self-appointed enforcer or not, 21C was actually considerate of others (and their safety), which can’t be said for 21D.
Exactly, it’s not an emergency, and therefore does not require immediate intervention. It’s a small-enough risk that it it is best left to the FAs.
I disagree completely. Laptop guy was absolutely in the wrong and the FA’s weren’t doing anything to have him comply after a quick notification. 21C would have looked like a jerk for calling the FA’s and instead did the reasonable thing by saying “Hey dude…”. If the laptop tool had been capable of caring about anything but himself everything would have been fine.
This is a perfect example of why allowing phone calls on board is a terrible idea: People who feel too important to have rules apply to them will just do as they want. That will cause strife and FA’s will have to police things much more avidly than they’re doing with easier rules right now.
Wonder what Matthew’s opinion would have been if he was concussed by a flying laptop if the plane decelerated on the runway…
I agree with your points on etiquette most of the time, but not this one. Sure it’s cleaner to let the FAs handle it, but I think part of why behavioral standards have plummeted is that we no longer shame each other in public. Everyone just looks the other way and leaves it to authorities to address. 21C didn’t yell at the guy, curse him out, or grab his laptop. It was a perfectly reasonable admonition that in no way puts him on the level of the selfish prick that thinks rules don’t apply to him.
If you don’t like his approach, fine. But saying 21C was the worse offender is going way overboard.
I hear you – I just don’t like self-appointed police…
Same people who say to mind your own business might be the same ones later suing the airline for not enforcing the rule. Because let’s face it, the airline can settle. Guy with the laptop can’t.
Mr Kline the world is full of “self-appointed enforcers” some of whom now carry a Medal of Honour because they had the courage and bravery to intervene in an obviously delicate or dangerous situation. The laptop man thought he could follow his own rules regardless of aviation regulations. What is more concerning is that you advocate that people should mind their own business and not have the bravery to point out dangerous situations. Your opinions here define your specific morals and culture which, in essence is “I do what I want when I want” and “I don’t need to be called out just because I am an xxxxhole. More fool you, you showed your hand!
Yes, let’s give 21C the Medal of Honor. Someone call Trump.
So I call you out and you blame Trump? What seat number was he in during this flight? Or was it that you couldn’t come up with a more articulate response? Case closed.
Who’s blaming Trump? I was mocking the premise of tattletales earning the Medal of Honor.
More TDS….
What are you sniffing? This has nothing to do with Trump…I was responding to the comment that snitches win the Medal of Honor, which is awarded by the POTUS.
So the only passenger who would be injured by a “flying” laptop in the event of an emergency would be the passenger who owned the laptop and ignored the flight attendant’s instructions? “See something, say something” does not apply on board?
Are you going to rat him out for not wearing a seatbelt? For not paying attention to the safety video? For not holding his hot drink when the seatbelt light is on? For not putting his phone in airplane mode? For not having his carry-on bag sufficiently under the seat in front of him?
The risk of the laptop flying is so small that I deem it a lesser risk than agitating a self-entitled prick.
Something makes me think Matthew was the guy in 21D.
Just kidding
But the discussion of what level of disobedience rises to reporting is an interesting one.
LOL, it was not me! I close my laptop. 😉
hmm, weird post, weird take matthew… especially with all the religious righteousness and virtue signaling you sprinkle into this blog. what good are societal laws, and when not perfectly enforced, respectable and civil interaction to maintain decorum?
the passenger who was working on their laptop was breaking the law. the flight attendant was both not attentive enough, as well as most likely *strapped into their jump seat*. the concerned passenger was polite, well-spoken, and raised a point about respecting their safety and the safety of others, in respect to the rules set forth.
i was on a flight to NZ in 2003 that hit an turbulence pocket unexpectedly that exploded overhead lockers, sending passengers and luggage flying. we made an emergency landing with people bloodied and broken bones. not out of the ordinary in the grander scheme of things, but it gave me a fear of flying for life. “YMMV” but its interesting the person brought up the flight at Laguardia.
being respectful is never a bad thing.
I was waiting for this response.
Bigots (not calling you one, just speaking in general) tend to think that writing about religion = virtue signaling. They are not the same thing and to suggest that I ever take a “holier than thou” stance is incorrect…I am a sinner saved by the Grace of God…there is no one righteous, no not one. I write bout my faith because it is so central to my life, and even my travels, but your also misunderstand the Xtian faith if you think it is just about following rules.
But I agree that being respectful is never a bad thing…there is no defense of the lout who would not put his laptop away.
is it not virtue signalling when you do religious posts reflecting on important themes of your faith, and then do posts like this chastising someone you should show compassion and civility towards (as they are expressing through their outward actions)?
your 2025 christmas reflection was about peace and obedience. allegories abound (or not), i’d say that juxtaposes your sentiment here.
I can see Matthew’s point because I also hate tattletales and I would agree with him if the guy in 21D was breaking some silly rule that didn’t affect others on the plane (like not putting his phone in airplane mode), but having a heavy laptop loose during takeoff and landing is a legitimate safety risk – the guy across the row did the right thing.
Matthew Karma says may you be the one hit by the laptop. You have your “dislikes” apparently you dislike safety.
I’ll take my chances…
When real men are required to hold the line for the protection of others, the soft and weak will always find an excuse to hide in the corner.
Matthew: Have you EVER admitted you were wrong?
Or is that the “German” stubbornness in you?
Ja, I’m often wrong. Don’t think I’m wrong here but I am happy to fess up when I err and if you’ve been reading this blog long enough you’ll know I’ve done it may times.
You couldn’t be more wrong in this post. I saw this Reddit post and this was the day after the Air Canada incident at LaGuardia. 21D is the tool and we need more people like 21C to call tools out.
Glad you feel that way – you’re certainly entitled to your opinion. No one is defending the DB in 21D for using his laptop.