rmadisonwi

Worked fine on my flight for the most part, until halfway through the exit one woman in row 7 blocked the aisle to get her ginormous suitcase down and folks behind her started yelling at her.

zitsky

I realize you're just the messenger, but what did they expect? Only people with small suitcases get to leave? Who doesn't block the aisle when they take down their suitcase?

50Kthehardway

On Friday, delayed out of EWR to CLE. Landed about 20 minutes late in CLE. FA originally asked for us to stay seated until tight connectors deplaned. Seemed odd for CLE. She then asked for tight connectors to ring their call buttons so we could see who they were (heard "two" tones). Then she mentioned UA was "holding the plane" for the "one" tight connection in xx minutes (seemed more like a candidate for the whopper forum). Lastly, she reminded everyone that CLE was now a much smaller operation with gates close together.

One thankful person was able to deplane earlier.

I like the call button thing, though there were still some shenanigans. I was glad to see that it seems to have worked out.

kale73

Me. My carry-on is a relatively small duffel bag that fits easily in the overhead and is just as easily removed.

goalie

UA576 BOS-SFO on 28 November arrived late and an F/A made the announcement during taxi to the gate and suffice it to say, it was a cluster. There were folks who had tight conx and while waiting for the jet-bridge to be connected, you could hear them asking things like "excuse me, but i have a high connection, could I go in front of you" and in my best guess, maybe (n.b. maybe) 10 pax (including myself) in Y on a 777 got out of their way to let them pass*

*and one response was "So? I have an Uber waiting for me"

Lani1

Agree 100% and it never helps or works

edvasquez

Was on a nonstop 6-hour flight from EWR to SFO that ran late. As we land, pilot asks how many were in danger of missing their International connection. I'd say about a dozen or so people indicated their concern by pressing the call button as instructed to. This is where I know blame United and its staff.

Plane lands. After 6-hours, it's a free for all. Forget about passengers who need to connect. That's when the F bombs started flying. Two passengers, one who had a connection to make and was blocked - the other guy trapped and unable to move. Luckily nothing happened.

United. Do you not train your staff on how to help your customers make their connecting flight when you run late? All United had to do was tell customers to stay in their seat so that those connecting could be the first out and if someone was blocking a passenger in the middle or window, to kindly let them out. Heck, have a flight attendant run interference from the back to the front. There has to be a way to get passengers with connecting flights off the plane without elbows flying, people pushing to get through, and general overall chaos that leads to short tempers.

By the way, on this six hour flight, one was given a glass of soda and a bag of pretzels or something. How generous.

emcampbe

sadly, an announcement asking people to sit and let those with tight connections out first has little effect, IME. First, you've got the problem of those in the middle/window who can't get by easily to begin with. Secondly, there are way too many people who only care about themselves. Half the people who are at their destination will run to get up first anyway. Particularly on late flights. The only real solution is to have close connections held, but that isn't without its issues either - though IMO, probably the best overall, especially in the evening on last flights of the night.

Other issue using tthe let people with tight connections out is Ive heard it on many flights after arriving early, sometimes when it's 20 minutes early. When you hear it then, sometimes people tend to ignore it, even when it's needed most.

DENviaLAX

In all the years I've been flying I've heard flight attendants make the announcement hundreds of times asking for people who are not connecting to stay seated and let those who are making connections off first. You know how many times I've seen passengers actually cooperate and let others off first? Not once. There is literally nothing FAs can do to make people do this in a realistic way. And frankly, the idea of pax in the aisle/window getting up and letting the one in the window seat out, and then sitting back down...completely illogical. It'd be more efficient for them to just get up and get off, as there simply isn't enough room to maneuver. Which is why the best thing for everyone to do is to just get up and go in a quick and orderly fashion, instead of yelling at each other about who's time is more important than the other's.

A few months back the FA made the same announcement on a UAX flight I was on, despite the plane arriving 10 min early. Some lady started yelling at people for not letting her off first, saying her flight was leaving in 15 min. All I could think was how she could possibly have a connection booked that left 5 min after our scheduled arrival. Maybe her flight was going to start boarding in 15 min, but certainly it wasn't leaving in 15 min (unless on a separate ticket, but still). Case in point though, people just don't care about anyone but themselves when traveling.

sbrower

The best I ever saw was when UAL messed up a connecting flight and the pilot was mad at the airline because he understood that it wasn't our fault. He gave us permission to get up while the plane was taxiing to the gate and stand by the front door. (Of course, that was a few years ago. How long? When we got off that flight we had to run through SFO to get to International. My wife forgot to stop at the security checkpoint and just ran through without being screened. One of the screeners ran behind her and, when she got to the gate for the new flight, used the hand wand and told her to have a nice day).

char777

^ Can I frame this?

DJ_Iceman

Warning: Non-value-added rant ahead.

The idea of people just deplaning in an orderly and efficient fashion is, in an ideal world, the best one. But as much as I fly, I am amazed EVERY SINGLE TIME at how bad people are in both boarding and deplaning. It doesn't matter what announcements they make at the gate or on board, it's just amazing how badly people clog up the entire process. It doesn't seem hard (generously call it reasonable to allow 10 seconds to heft a bag up to the overhead and push it in, then slide into one's seat, and the same to reverse the process on the way out), but so few people seem able to do that.

exwannabe

Rant seconded, though unless there are problems 5 seconds is plenty of time.

The problem is simple.

People think that taking 5-10 extra seconds screwing around is no big deal. What they are TOO FRIGGEN DUMB to understand (or do understand, and are selfish) is that this can add 10 minutes to the entire process.

That is also why a round of golf takes forever (if teeing off after the first few groups at daybreak).

Duke787

Agreed.

I'm always amazed how much faster deplaning is when they let you go out the rear door. Too bad it's not feasible for most flights / airports in the US

schley

Why not just change the announcement to whoever values their time more than anyone else, even though you don't have a tight connection please jostle your way off the plane first.