Also, wear shoes that you can walk and run in, and which will not damage the inflated slides.

Of course, if your passport, etc. are attached to you (e.g. in your pockets), then you are less likely to lose it after an evacuation. The people upthread who have mentioned needing difficult-to-replace essential medication may want to ensure that the medication is attached to them so that if an evacuation is needed, they will not have to cause delays looking for it or the carry-on bag that it is in.

I always watch safety briefing and check for closest exist and no of seats

Should anyone delay my evacuation in an emergency to retrieve their belongings that will be a potential threat to my safety. The threat will be removed by whatever means are necessary. If that person is harmed in the process the blame is entirely on them.

A significant number of Canadians are very aggressively anti-American, unknown to Americans. Overly aggressive people who shove others should be dealt with.

Nope. He's right. If some tool attempts to grab his crap out of the overhead bin impeding my exit I will do whatever it takes to exit. If I knock him on his ... that's his problem, not mine.

When US1549 crashed in the Hudson River, the pictures that I saw were of passengers without luggage. They knew they were in deep do do.

In general, I think people don't take luggage when it is obviously an emergency. People do take luggage and even walk home when it is less major of an incident. There is some in between that people shouldn't be taking luggage but do. However, based on some Flyertalk responses, there should be more fistfights and brawls than actually happen. Grandstanding?

Indeed, most were without luggage, but I believe a couple did have their bags. This photo appears to show a guy on the wing with his suiter carryon hanging from his shoulder:

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...90c1772089.jpg


This one seems to have a guy on the far left holding a carryon:

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...c7ad9f6314.jpg

I wonder if the rescue crews let them take the bags into the crowded rubber life boats.

In January 1990 I flew ORD-YYZ on the last flight of the day. The flight was less that 1/4 full. There was a bit of a snowstorm so the climb-out was quite bumpy. About 15 minutes into the flight there is a loud bang from the starboard side and I look out to see some flames in the engine. The engine is shut down within what seems like forever but was probably 30 seconds. The flight becomes noticeably bumpier and cabin noise is much higher.

The captain eventually comes on to say something along the lines of "Hey folks, we just shut down our number two engine as we had some trouble with an oil line. Nothing to worry about, but we're going to be heading back to Chicago where we'll get some of our engineers to take a look at it. Sit tight and relax, we'll have you on the ground in a few minutes."

As we break though the clouds, I see the entire runway lined with firetrucks. I had been reseated in the last exit row and told to open the door on her command. We landed and the reverse thrust of only one engine made for a very exciting roll. Meanwhile the firetrucks were dousing the aircraft with foam...suddenly she yells at me "emergency door...NOW!" So I pull the handle, throw open the door, and we all make our way down the slide.

The guy the the stetson hat who had asked for a bourbon when the bang first happened ended up buying me a drink in the bar at the airport. He was not in good shape!

No when I am asked if I'm willing to operate the doors in an emergency, I can confidently and truthfully say "yes, I've done it once before."

What a sensible person is "anti" is a risk to their safety presented by a someone of any nationality who delays an emergency evacuation by stopping to get their carry-on.

And if that person is shoved, bruised or his sense of entitlement is diminished he can have it "dealt with" on the tarmac.

I sit in exit rows semi-often and I've always wondered how this works. Does the slide deploy automatically when you pop the door? I'm probably in more overwing exits than anything else, but every now and then I'm in that first row of Y on a 757 where there's a slide.

Yes, I just turned the handle, threw open the door, and the slide just self-inflated. It happened very quickly! We then all exited out the back, and I was the last passenger out. It was so long ago, I don't remember exactly why, but I had been put in a jump seat in the back of the plane. I forget why she decided she couldn't open the door, but I remember being asked to do it (and did!)

I have not ONCE, in any of my comments, advocated physically harming anyone or even shoving them out of the way. Kindly do not attribute words to me that I did not write.

Your question re why weren't they charged is probably the first sensible comment you've made. The laws definitely exist under which it could happen, they aren't 'presumptions' at all. I suspect that like many things, it's simply a question of no one having made the decision to enforce the laws in this case for various reasons. It may well be that again like many things, it will take deaths directly attributable to this behaviour to get the public riled up enough and through that, enough pressure on officials to have people charged. Sadly, that is what it seems to take for a lot of things to be dealt with these days.

As for insulting you, it was not my intention to insult you. It was my intention to ask the question I asked . Either you are simple minded or you are being deliberately obtuse. I see no other possibility. Perhaps you are simple minded and actually believe what you are saying, perhaps you are being deliberately obtuse and know that what you are saying is nonsense, you just want to troll. Either way, it would be good to know which applies. If you are simple minded, perhaps you can be helped to see the light. If you are being deliberately obtuse, then everyone would know to ignore you. Help us out here, which is it?

Where did I attribute anything to you? That is a clear reference to all the other posters talking about charging, tackling, or otherwise harming others.