Well said, the US has for sure its fair share of DYKWIA's but China in particular simply has a culture of the pushiest wins, and they don't see anything wrong with this, by and large I find Americans extremely courteous though people of all nationalities
can act differently when they get on a plane. I always have thought you exit the plane simply row by row.

Yes! Before I lived in China, I thought I had a good idea of what rudeness was but I literally had no idea. China is like a whole other level of rude that I just had no idea existed.

Tiger deplaning.

Most European low cost carriers do exactly that as it shortens the turn around time. It also enables me to position myself in the back rows and avoid the pushing and shoving ^

The couple was wrong. The big guy was right. It didn't matter what their problem was.

As a fairly large individual who played contact sports in his youth and spent an early part of his career in a field with the omnipresent potential for aggressive physical contact I would and have done exactly the same as the big guy. People who push and prod other passengers sometimes need to learn their behavior is not acceptable.

I went on a MR to PVG in 2017 and even just staying at the airport hotel, I was a bit startled as I was cut in front of in line and people were loudly interrupting the agents when they were working with other customers. I came back again in late 2018, made it to the DT area, even took a run and was a bit more prepared. I'm going for a full week this year to see an ATP tournament in October and am hoping I'm fully prepared now for just how aggressive people can be in China.

But, to be fair, in China that is part of the culture. In my instance, in the US, everyone knows not to try and jostle their way to the front of the plane. Especially on a route where we were early and it's not really a common connection point (MKE>LGA - although I admit it is possible).

Probably one of two things going on here: They had a connection to catch and were completely self absorbed about it OR they were simply ignorant Kettles who have no idea how it actually works. There are always a few.

Either way it is a deviation from the self organizing and consensus based way crowds usually deplane

I'm an impatient guy, but I try to exercise what little patience I have when deplaning.

I used to go to the back of the cabin to find a less desirable row, in the hope that I'd have an empty middle next to me. But as my waistline has expanded with age (coupled with a nice office job that keeps me behind a desk most of the time), I now have no choice but to book two seats, which guarantees me an empty middle, so I sit closer to the front of the cabin, usually around rows 3 to 5.

This causes a problem in deplaning because... I always sit at the window. Yup, I get a window and middle. Now, I am too big to fit into one seat (I'm also 6'-3" tall with long legs and arms), but I don't take up two whole seats. I generally impinge about 1/4 of the way into the middle seat, leaving the rest of it empty. Which means that the lucky person who comes along and snags the aisle seat in my row, ends up with the equivalent of an empty middle next to them. They can use both of their armrests, put their stuff on the seat (I use part of it for my stuff), and don't need to worry about a seatmate throwing elbows or falling asleep on their shoulder.

But for some reason, just the luck of the draw, I always seem to end up with a slow deplaner in that aisle seat. They'll stand there... and stand there... and stand there... while half of the darn plane files past, before grabbing their carry-on and merging into the salmon stream.

Once they're gone, I can move fast, grabbing my own carryon from the overhead and slipping out of the row without interrupting the exodus - being tall and having long arms definitely makes it easy to grab my carry-on fast.

But it always seems to take forever for my aisle-mate to kick it in gear.

Before anyone else posts it: "First World Problems!"

I haven't been to China - never been outside the US, in fact - but I can say with absolute certainty that some Americans can be so rude as to try the patience of Mother Theresa or Mahatma Gandhi. And some Americans can be so courteous, generous, and kind that it would bring tears to all but those with the stoniest of hearts. But in my experience, most Americans are somewhere between these two extremes.

Now, *clueless*, on the other hand, that's where my countrymen truly excel!

Never having been to China, however, I can see two possibilities with regard to behavior of Chinese people on an airplane:
1) China is a country of Rudy McRudersons and Evenruder Rudowskis, all of whom will go miles out of their way to step on you, cut you off, knock you down, or smash your stuff.
2) Chinese culture defines "rude" differently than Western culture and many actions that seem rude to us are actually perfectly acceptable - even polite - to the Chinese.

I suspect, as with so many questions about life, the answer to this one is actually "a little bit of both."

When I first started to travel on business my boss used to joke that he liked to travel with me because I liked the aisle seat. He always wanted a window seat (so he could sleep) and when we landed he knew I would be standing in the aisle and blocking the back of the plane, which allowed him to get out of the row. He use to joke that i was his "designated blocker" and would even tell clients that was the reason he brought me along.

I can say that in China it was move or get run over, however did not happen to me that often as I am 6'6" and went 275 at the time.

Basic logic here. If a queue has already formed i.e. the people are in the aisle, then you can't push past them. If you have a tight connection, you can *ask* nicely and if they say no you say "No problem!" with a cheery smile.

If they haven't got up, the queue has not formed, and you can go as far forward as possible.

On letting seated people into the queue; I'll do this but I've been taken advantage of when people move at the speed of a slowly defrosting sloth.

If they are standing with their bags and ready to go I will stop and let them proceed. If they are not ready or need to futz around with their bags I will continue moving forward. What is irritating in colder weather are people who stop and put on their heavy coats in the aisle. Save that for when inside the terminal.

Worse are those people who had to stow their bags in a bin way back from their seat, and then who think they can go and get it as soon as the light goes off, grab it, and make their way back forward to their spot after when everyone is up.

That irritates me. It always involves some complicated contortion where they shove their way forward holding their suitcase over their head, almost like it's some kind of signal that they're reclaiming their "rightful" place in line.

I also get irritated at the backpack-wearers who insist on strapping themselves into their contraption when the individuals directly behind them are being pushed forward by the queue, thus squishing me from both sides!