Just get out. Always have anything you absolutely need on you (in a pocket or neck wallet) so that you don't have to think. And, always try to sit within a few rows of an exit so that you aren't trapped behind too many idiots.

Which is why I always keep my coat on until we are airborne and anything important is in my vest pocket. I am going to the door directly and not picking anything up along the way. I don't think they drill this into people enough during the safety messages.

That’s one of the problems with allowing so much carry on baggage - passengers have all their belongings in the cabin with them, and don’t realise that the few seconds it takes them to grab their bags is the difference between life and death for those behind them.

safety briefings should emphasis the fact that carry on bags should be left strictly alone in an emergency evacuation -get yourself out quickly and safely, and allow others to do the same

It's been shown that in life-or-death emergencies when seconds count, the vast majority of people simply freeze. Psychologists call it normalcy bias - our higher reasoning functions shut down amidst overloads of ambiguous information and danger and we convince ourselves for precious seconds that everything is fine. Stopping to get your bags is a version of normalcy bias.

Investigators of the Tenerife disaster (where two 747s collided on a runway) found that many people on the PanAm plane died in their seats. Survivors mentioned seeing people sitting calmly in their seats as the plane burned.

There's a really fascinating chapter of David McRaney's book You Are Not So Smart on normalcy bias where he goes into the Tenerife disaster in detail. Highly recommended. He says the way to ensure you are one of the people who gets up and goes is to consciously rehearse what you'd do in an emergency before an emergency happens, so your higher reasoning doesn't have to figure it out in the heat of the moment.

Second this. If I have to leave my luggage I would have serious doubts about whether I would ever see the expensive stuff in it, or compensation for that stuff it was destroyed.

Some of the offending passengers may be clear headed and simply making a selfish but conscious decision to lug their carryon with them. Others are likely falling victim to a number of psychological factors come into play in panic situations - even those of us who sit here at the keyboard thinking "surely I would/wouldn't do this or that" may or may not react the same in an actual emergency. More should be done to formally study these effects - as they come up in pretty much every such incident - and come up with better ways to address the problem.

Plenty of good articles on the subject such as this:

Let it go, people | Flight Safety Australia

Certainly it is your prerogative to risk a gruesome death by fire in an attempt to retrieve your expensive stuff. Don't expect me to do the same while you gather your possessions. You will be moved aside using whatever force is required.

I find it amazing to read comments like this by presumably frequent air travellers. Is it a sign of the times when someone would put monetary considerations above living?

There is only ONE answer to the question of what to do if you are told to evacuate. That is to forget everything and just get off as calmly and quickly as possible. When I read of the Toronto incident, I was shocked to read about people trying to get stuff out of the overheads. My first reaction was 'what idiots'. My second was, 'totally selfish behaviour which endangers the lives of others.' My third was, 'did they think differently because they had landed safely and were waiting to get to the gate? Did they have a 'this is a normal arrival' mindset they got stuck in? Did they not realize they were endangering the lives of others and themselves?

LorenPechtel, please take this advice. If you ever hear the cabin crew saying 'EVACUATE', do not hesitate for a second, GET OUT. There is a reason why the evacuation time is set at 90 seconds. That reason is because that is the amount of time in which an airplane can become engulfed in flame. The time it takes for those nearest the fire to be overcome by smoke is even LESS.
https://www.google.ca/search?q=aiarp...hrome&ie=UTF-8

I notice you made a similar comment on the following thread LorenPechtel.
How can PAX be persuaded not to take their luggage in an emergency evac?
Looking at the accompanying photo of that incident, the plane is intact, everyone got off. Note the people with carry-ons on the photo.

Then look at the accompanying photos on this link. The fury over 'hand luggage' plane evacuees - BBC News

Then you tell me LorenPechtel, if you are holding me up from getting off when I am in the front of that plane filling with smoke, would you object if I were to shove you out of the aisle onto the row of seats while you are standing sideways in the aisle getting your 'valuable stuff' out of the overhead bin? Because I can pretty much promise you LorenPechtel, that is what I would do if you were in my way and trying to take stuff with you.

Personally, I think it should be a criminal offense to exit a plane during an evacuation with anything in your hands at all. Possibly an offense like, 'reckless endangerment of others'.

Grabbing your carry on's is a big no-no, and they tell you not to do with very good reason. However as usual people don't listen or care. There was a plane fire evacuation with BA recently and the pics of the pax evacuating with their bags made headlines.

It slows the evacuations, entangles people. catches on the seats, and makes going down the slide a risk too. There is simply no reason to do this. Your life matters more than your stuff.

I keep my passport and my wallet in my pocket during the flight. Everything else can burn. It it can be replaced. This way, if I have to get out I will simply get up and evacuate. I will have my main ID and credit cards for sorting out the mess later.

It may be worthwhile to install auto-locking bins. During an evac, when the flight crew hits the evac alarm button on the flight deck, the bins should auto-lock, preventing anyone from opening the bins.

Creating obstruction - maybe even more - because the "must have this" will try to force open the OH.

I don't know if everyone could read the article in the link in my first post. This is what caused me to start this thread:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2018/01/06/flames-and-screams-after-two-jetliners-collide-at-toronto-airport/?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories-2_gridlock-collision-615pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.6c95d8033f70

That's not true.

Like the former LEO in this thread, I know what I'd do, in part because I've experienced an emergency evacuation and because I worked in a field where disaster drills were routine. When you regularly practice for emergencies, your reaction changes from panic to trained and ingrained. At work, the moment the emergency bell went off, every member of the team knew what to do because we all did at least once a month, nobody panicked, and when a real disaster hit (Loma Prieta earthquake) every member of the staff performed as they were trained to do.

My experience with evacuating an aircraft was an RJ that lost all hydraulics. Pilot warned us it would be a hard landing (he could hardly help it, there wasn't a cockpit door and we could hear him on the radio). We diverted to the nearest airport, landed between to two rows of emergency vehicles and the second the FA opened the door nobody had to be told to move rapidly OUT. After the plane was sprayed with foam and inspected by the fire crew, we were allowed to retrieve carry-on bags.

I might have to think about retrieving my jacket from the overhead bin before landing so I have it with me. I would not try to grab my bag from there but may grab my bag at my feet that has enough to get me through a day/night of being stranded. I would have no problem shoving folks out of the way trying to retrieve their bags from the overhead bins. Each scenario may vary.

I would brace for impact, unbuckle my seatbelt, wait for the EV(Easy Victor Easy Victor) command and crew members instructions and then go low to the ground and follow the lighting to the nearest emergency exit that is available for use and slide down the slide and move away from the aircraft leaving all personal items behind. If its a water evacuation I would put on my vest and wait to inflate it until just before the exiting the aircraft.

It helps to look for where the lifevest is as on some aircrafts its located in the center armrest or under the seat in front of you. I practice buckling and umbuckling my seatbelt a couple of times, count the number of rows to two or three emergency exits.

In fact I look up the seatmap of my aircraft and remember how many exits are next to my seat in front of me and in back of me making a mental note of the exits during the briefing.

Furthermore I look over the emergency evacuation card if I am not familiar with the aircraft and even if I am just to mentally remember what to do when.

I would try and help passengers remain calm the best I could. For me I would not panic and just do what I was taught.

BTW I watch the safety videos online and know that you are supposed to pull down hard on the oxygen mask to start the flow of oxygen.

I always have my wallet for travel and wear cargo pants with many pockets for my passport, wallet, cellphone etc.