People need to quit this bad airplane habit — it caused chaos on my flight

Yahoo

19 hours ago

It starts with a small act of selfishness and makes everything way more stressful than it needs to be.
I knew it was going to be a long travel day. My family and I had flown from Los Angeles to London, then had a long layover before boarding a short connecting flight to Amsterdam. We were tired, jet-lagged, and just trying to get through the final stretch without any hiccups.
So when I booked our EasyJet tickets, I paid a little extra to select seats near the front of the plane. I figured it would be worth it — we'd board a bit earlier, and more importantly, we'd be able to deplane quickly once we landed. With two kids in tow and a long, sleepless day behind us, I wanted to make the end of our journey as smooth as possible.
What I didn't count on was just how little etiquette some passengers would show when it came to the overhead bins.
We were seated in row 3 — right up front — but by the time we boarded, every bin anywhere near our row was already full. Other passengers, many seated in the middle or even the back of the plane, had stashed their luggage up front, wherever they pleased. No rhyme or reason, just a first-come-first-served approach, designed to minimize their own hassle.
We had no choice but to keep walking until we finally found space halfway down the plane.
When the flight landed, things got messy fast. Everyone stood up and tried to get their bags — but no no one was near their luggage. People were squeezing backward down the aisle, trying to retrieve bags they'd left many rows behind. Others were pushing forward, trying to exit while dodging passengers moving in the wrong direction. It was total gridlock. Deplaning took twice as long as it should have, and everyone — not just us — was visibly frustrated.
I get that it's a budget airline. I wasn't expecting champagne service or extra legroom. But I did expect basic consideration — the kind that makes air travel even slightly more bearable. Instead, it felt like overhead-bin anarchy.
When you stash your carry-on in someone else's space just because it's open, you're not being clever — you're being inconsiderate. And it snowballs fast, especially on full flights with limited space, in such a way that's likely to result in a headache for everyone on the plane, including the offender.
So, if you're flying soon, do us all a favor: Put your bag near your seat. Not five rows ahead. Not wherever's convenient. It's a small gesture that makes a big difference — and saves everyone from the kind of chaotic deplaning that turned our quick hop from London to Amsterdam into an unnecessarily stressful ordeal.
Solve the daily Crossword