My friend Gary wrote Three Reasons You Should Stand Up As Soon As The Plane Lands, but I take a different approach and think you should too. When your plane lands, there is no need to get up and crowd the aisle if you are sitting beyond the first few rows.
Three Reasons You Should Remain Seated When The Plane Lands
Gary makes three arguments for why you should get up as soon as the aircraft lands and the seat belt light is turned off:
- Getting ready to deplane, including getting things out of the overhead bin, speeds up the process
- It’s polite to the middle seat passenger who’s been stuck in place for hours
- You’ve been stuck in an uncomfortable seat for hours, why not stand as soon as you can?
While reasonable enough, my advice would be different.
Recently, I flew Frontier Airlines and was seated toward the rear of the aircraft. When we landed, people jumped up and quickly filled the aisle. I remained seated, not to annoy my seatmates in the middle and window seat, but because I knew we were at least 10 minutes away from moving.
Even as a taller guy, I don’t find “stretching” in a crowded aisle all that comfortable, especially with overhead bins flying open (how may overhead bins have struck your head over the years?). Quite the contrary, I often myself leaning over my seat in a contorted position or ducking, leaving me even less comfortable than sitting in a coach seat.
Furthermore, there is not room for middle seat passengers to get up as well when the aisle is full of aisle seat passengers. The bit of extra space in the row that theoretically is present is often simply replaced with baggage from the overhead bin, leading to little extra comfort for those in the middle and window seats.
Finally, it is one thing to grab your bag and prepare to alight when it nears your time to get of the aircraft, but there is no need to get up and gather your stuff when you still must wait quite some time to get off the aircraft. Who wants to hold a bag for 10 minutes anyway?
So my three arguments for why you should NOT get up as soon as the aircraft lands are as follows:
- Getting ready to deplane, including getting things out of the overhead bin, can slow the process down when you are blocking people who may be seated in front of you and are trying to get up into the aisle
- It’s rather uncomfortable standing in a crowded aisle for most people of medium height
- Remaining seated reduces the hesitation, like when two people arrive at a stop sign concurrently and are both too timid to move, that occurs when so many are standing in the aisle which greatly slows down the de-boarding process
Ultimately, I don’t view this as a big deal, but am firmly in the “remain seated” camp.
Do you think Gary is right or I am?
100% agree on all points.
Especially the standing up in the aisle – far more comfortable to just sit in your seat.
I assuming that by “landing” you mean when the plane gets to the gate and seat belt sign is off, right? I am the first one to stand once that happens. I have serious knee problems and the time I spend seated on lanes aggravate that. Thus, as soon as I can stand up it helps to get my knees in better shape to walk out. Now, to be clear, I get out of my seat and stay in my area. I do not start walking towards the door but I wait for my time to leave the plane. It drives me insane how lazy people are when leaving the plane and how long they take to remove all the things they brought into the plane. Why do people need to grab your power cord from your seat as you exit the plane? Couldn’t they make sure that was already stored before you leave your seat? How many items do people need to bring onboard that suddenly you need more than 2 hands to carry them out? Why do people keep their personal items stores in the back pocket of the seat (the most disgusting place in the plane) and forget to empty them before standing up? I bring the minimum with me to allow me to get in and out as quick as possible.
I take the middle ground, sit and stand.
If I am in an aisle seat but not at the front, I sit on the armrest. This asserts my position so that the middle seat passenger won’t be annoyed, thinking I won’t move quickly. An alternative is to retrieve my bag and put it in the aisle but then sitting down in the aisle seat.
As a side note, I remember two flights where I was the first off the plane even though it’s happened more than that.
it depends. If I know we don’t have a lot of stuff and we control the row (since it’s my wife and child and I) then I stand up immediately and start unpacking and dumping the stuff into my empty seat. Then I’m able to move within seconds when the line frees up for me to leave. I then take all the stuff and start moving forward and then it takes my wife and daughter about a half minute to follow so I go ahead of them and wait by the exit row for them to catch up.
But otherwise, if it’s not a rush then I’ll sit for the additional 2 minutes until the others have left and I have plenty of space to stand up.
I always get a window seat and I will sit there until the last passenger leaves, if I need to. Getting up, joining the throng of pushy, annoying people who will end up standing for a long period is just dumb. Just how much time is one going to save by rushing to get off of a plane? Chill out and deplane in an orderly manner.
Wondering if you are sitting on let’s say row 4, would you wait the entire plane to leave for your to stand up? I have sat at the back of the plane this year and was surprised on how long people take to leave the plane. People really take their time to the point that when I stood up the cleaning crew was already done with 1/4 of the plane. As for how much time you will save? If you haven’t checked bags, you save a lot. Again, I deplane when it gets to my row but I won’t be sitting there enjoying the plane.
I agree. You and I are reading from the same play book.
I try to use the same etiquette as merging on a highway. If you are not positioned to merge onto the aisle (still gathering, etc) and there is a significant empty space, I will move up. I make exceptions for those that are struggling with age and small children. It is just logic to keep things moving in the kindest way possible.
I find it kind of rude when the aisle doesn’t stand up once the seatbelt sign is off at landing. Like Gary said, the middle seat guy has been crammed between you and the window , the aisle has all the room and could stand up to be polite, even giving themselves more room.
When the aisle seat doesn’t stand, it also inevitably means you’re getting off the plane later since the rows behind you inevitably come fill the space by your row if the aisle seat doesn’t do their job and stand
Exactly. As a preferred aisle, I am standing and ready. And if my row is ready, my etiquette dictates, as the aisle, I allow my middle & window to merge into the aisle before me. It’s like holding a door. Polite.
I had a funny deplaning episode yesterday in Hawaii where, after a six hour flight from California, a fat, Peruvian woman a few rows up decided to unload the luggage of her entire party. The entire plane ahead of her was empty and she was holding everybody up. A hero spoke up and yelled “MOVE!”. She finally realized that she was blocking everyone and stood aside. The man gave her a curt “Bitch” as he went by.
What a legend.
Oh no! This is why road rules need apply. You call in the tow truck!
Icel alert…
Whoops, meant to type incel…
We’re not talking about you now.
Obviously not, that’s why you are the one being called an incel lol
You’re actually closer to the person’s breath if you stand up and can be easier to catch something such as a cold or breath in their germs. I’m always at the window and I’m always last to stand and wait until at least 2 rows behind me have left.
By the way, I wear an N95 mask most of the time.
I usually stand if I’m in the aisle seat just to stretch my legs even if I end up in a weird position, but I get Matt’s point, especially if you are towards the back. That said, I don’t think the tight connection argument Gary makes holds a ton of water. My home airport is IAH, so I am often ending my trip when a lot of passengers still have an ongoing connection. If I’m on a delayed flight and I know passengers have a tough connection (either because FAs mention it or the people I’m sitting with mention it), I will usually stay put in the window or get up out of the aisle as quickly as possible to block space to let my seat mates out to gather their stuff and then sit back down and wait.
Think of a stoplight. When it turns green the person in front needs to move or else everyone is delayed.
I sit up front. The sooner I get up and leave the sooner you get to leave. I’ll even grab a bag for the person sitting next to me. You’re welcome.
I’m 6’8″, so even the seats up front don’t provide enough legroom (and the seats are too low to the ground), so I’m up the second I can be. I have to deal with the roof being too short on CRJs, but my legs need it, even if I get up once an hour and walk around the aisle.