I just flew IcelandAir for the first time, which uses a seating configuration which has the first class cabin forward of the main door, with coach behind the door. I was a bit shocked that the flight attendants would block the aisles to coach upon landing and opening the door to allow the "saga" (business) class passengers to disembark first, at whatever leisurely pace they choose, before coach passengers.

Has anyone experienced this on other airlines? I’ve never seen it before, and found it simply rather ridiculous on my outbound flight to Europe, when I was excited and in a good mood to be at my destination, but on my return found it annoying, insulting, disgusting, and tacky. I really wanted to get off that plane. I felt like a passenger locked behind a gate in steerage on the Titanic. A flight attendant actually chased me back into coach because I was forward in the cabin and made it to the door before she could block the aisle.

This practice especially disgusted me because it’s passengers blocking the aisle while they fetch bags from the overhead bins that really slow down the disembarking process - not people who already have their bags and are at the door, ready to exit the plane quickly. There was plenty of room for coach passengers to exit in between the first class passengers.

Is this practice even legal? They are essentially detaining one class of passengers and not the other. If they want to control access *to* their aircraft, offering certain passengers preboarding and such, that’s one thing, but it doesn’t seem right to detain 150+ passengers in coach on landing unless they have a better reason than fare class.