Chaos in the middle of the flight: The plane hasn’t landed yet, they get up to collect their luggage. By Blue Planet Studio | Adobe Stock
When a plane lands, travelers are only allowed to get up from their seat once the plane has come to a complete stop in front of the terminal. You can also collect your luggage there and get off the plane.
This measure is mandatory on all commercial flights except in the case of on-board emergencies. The cabin crew on a recent JetBlue flight tried to make an exception, and anarchy quickly reigned in the cabin.
It was a flight that was carried out on September 10th from New York’s La Guardia Airport to Fort Lauderdale Airport, reports the specialist site AeroTime. 22 passengers on board this flight have a close connection to Mariscal Sucre International Airport in Quito, Ecuador.
Airplane: Cabin crew makes an exception, but regrets their decision
Due to the short transfer times, the cabin crew decided to give priority to the 22 transit passengers when disembarking and suggested that they be the first to exit the aircraft upon landing. Therefore, exceptionally, they were allowed to collect their luggage before the plane landed.
Karen Green-Walker, a travel agent who was on the flight, said that after the announcement, other passengers suddenly stood up and began opening overhead bins to retrieve their luggage while the plane was still in flight.
The passenger filmed the scene and shared the footage on her TikTok, where an angry voice, likely that of a flight attendant, can be heard over the public address system: “Please close the overhead bins, please.”
Even after this announcement, we continue to see passengers getting up and collecting their luggage. According to the author of the video, this was the third announcement and at one point the cabin crew threatened to call the police upon landing.
Due to this chaos, the 22 passengers missed their connection
The chaotic situation continued even after the plane landed. Passengers continued to push to get off the plane, as we can see in this second video posted by the same passenger.
“A lady sitting next to me was in transit to Quito (hence priority), but the passengers who were already standing did not let her get off to collect her luggage,” lamented the witness to the scene.
In a comment above the video, she said that in the rush to retrieve bags from overhead bins, a piece of luggage almost fell on a passenger. The worst part is that due to this disastrous scenario, all 22 transit passengers missed their connecting flight.
The video has been viewed more than 13,000 times and received many comments, mostly from travelers. Some have suggested that airlines place transit passengers at the front of the plane to avoid such mishaps.
It may also be time for passengers to review their in-flight etiquette and simply follow cabin crew instructions.