Traveller sparks debate over the proper etiquette for exiting a plane

Are you a stickler for the row-by-row approach or more of a 'crowd the aisle and hope to get off first' type of person?

There have been about 5467287 plane etiquette debate stories on TikTok recently.

So by now, can we all well and truly agree that you shouldn't be forced to switch seats so people can sit with their family/friends/partners/'children'-who-are-old-enough-to-look-after-themselves-for-six-hours?????

They should have pre-selected their seats if they wanted to sit together, right? RIGHT???

Ok, so now that's settled, we can finally move on to another contentious debate people are getting hot and heavy about on TikTok.  

How to exit a plane, respectfully. 

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The row-by-row vs. standing debate

Are you a stickler for the row-by-row approach, or more of a 'crowd the aisle and hope to get off first' type of person?

I promise, there's no wrong answer (there is) and I won't judge you either way (I will).

OBVIOUSLYYYYY, the most orderly and logical way to disembark is row-by-row!

Otherwise, you have to navigate that awkward interaction when you get up from your seat and you're like, 'no you go', 'no you go'... but you know the person already standing up wants to go first, that's why they've been standing patiently this whole time. 

But it's like, just because you've been doing time in the aisles doesn't mean you automatically get to circumvent the unspoken rules and get rewarded with exiting the plane first.

I've been spending my sweet time sitting down because I know I don't need to get up until I really need to. Work smarter, not harder.

Anyway - people on TikTok are having it out in the comments of one particular clip, about this very behaviour. 

RELATED: She said, ‘Oh – you want to sit here?’

Image: TikTok

"Aren't we all going to the same place?!!

Influencer @mickeyyyt filmed herself sitting down on a plane while others are standing in the aisles. She wrote: "Since when did airplane etiquette of getting off the plane row by row end??!!"

She added in the caption: "Aren't we all going to the same place?!!?!"

Great point, Mikayla. GREAT point.

One person commented on the clip that there were "two exceptions" to the row-by-row rule. " 1) if everyone is just seated and not getting up at all and 2) if the plane is late and people have connecting flights they need to catch."

"I used to get annoyed until I had a layover that gave me five minutes to get to my next flight," someone else said.

"I will get off when it's my row!"

"I refuse to let the people behind me out first 😆," someone agreed with the TikToker.

And then another wrote, "Once the line starts to move I stand up and get in."

"I will get off when it's my row! I will get in front of them 😂" quipped someone else. 

And a fourth said: "Whenever I see people start pushing forward I stand in the aisle and let everyone in front of me go and hold up everyone behind me."

"My husband thinks it's his job to use his 6'4 frame to maintain the system," commented a different woman.

And then a different TikToker demonstrated how her partner does this for her. 

Quincy Philbin showed in the clip how her partner blocks people from passing in front of her. 

She wrote: "Whenever we're getting off a plane, he stands in the aisle and blocks everyone so I can get off in front of him. Very simple, very sweet. He's done it ever since we first started dating."

Someone commented: "I think it's actually a rubbish thing to do for all the other people waiting to leave the plane too..."

But another wrote, "I think everyone does this for other people they are with."

Originally published as Traveller sparks debate over the proper etiquette for exiting a plane