Traveler Explains Why Immediately Standing Up When A Plane Lands Is The Right Thing To Do
These people seem to annoy everyone on the internet, but one person says they're heroes.
Mlenny from Getty Images Signature / Canva Pro Just about everyone is annoying as soon as you put them on a plane. Yes, even you, most likely.
But there's one bad habit that seemingly everyone on the internet agrees is deeply annoying — except for one person on Reddit, that is.
The traveler said that immediately standing up when a plane lands is actually the right thing to do.
We can already hear most of you screaming "NO! NOOOOOOOO!" at your screens like Michael Scott.
These people are second only to people who clap when the plane lands on the list of people nearly everyone on the internet wants to punch in the face when it comes to air travel. (Seriously, clappers, why are you like this? Who hurt you?)
Now to be clear, we're talking about people who stand up after the plane is parked and the seatbelt sign is off. Standing up before then is a major no-no, according to cabin crew, and can cause actual trouble with the FAA.
But standing up at the gate really gets people's goats. After all, where exactly are these people going? Unless you're seated up front in first class, the time between when you're allowed to stand up and you actually get to finally get the ever-loving heck off the plane is interminable, or at least it feels that way.
But a person who wrote into the unpopularopinion subreddit had a take on this that definitely fits the bill when it comes to the forum's name. They feel that not only is immediately standing up when a plane lands perfectly fine, but we should all be doing it.
The traveler said standing up when a plane lands actually saves everybody time.
Now you probably assume this is some bumpkin who flies only rarely and has no idea what they're talking about. But it's actually the opposite. "I fly 5-7 flights a month and I still don't understand the hate for those who stand up once the plane lands," the Redditor wrote. "Why does it bother people?"
Their first justification is pretty tough to argue with. "First off, after sitting in uncomfortable seats for a long period of time, I want to stand up ASAP!"
And here is the time when I must do my due diligence for journalistic integrity.
As a taller person for whom it is physically impossible to be comfortable in an airplane seat (other than in first class, those people really do live like Maharishis), I must disclose that I am one of these people and you will pry this practice from my cold, dead hands — or cramped-up legs, as it were.
But for the Redditor, there's a more important benefit. "They end up saving all of us time!" They argue that people who pop up as soon as the seatbelt sign is off are typically ready to roll as soon as the line to get off the plane moves. As opposed to those lollygaggers we've all dealt with.
"I hate it when people sit and stay there till it's their time and then they get their bag, pull it down, start packing [stuff] into it, gather everything, all the while they could have done that right when the plane landed!"
Sorry, hard agree and this Redditor definitely is not alone. Several users on Reddit agreed too, as do lots of others on social media.
Some experts say standing up when a plane lands can actually be good for your health.
Author and celebrity fitness trainer Harley Pasternak told The Washington Post that due to the ways air travel causes our bodies to swell and our blood to pool, standing up while you wait to get off the plane is actually good for your body, not to mention your brain.
Pasternak said "It'll get the blood moving, help with anxiety and possibly reduce your chance of getting deep-vein thrombosis," a potentially deadly blood-clotting condition that can result from extended bouts of sitting, which is exacerbated by the pressurization of airplane cabins.
Everyone in my family has a genetic mutation that makes DVT even more likely for us, by the way, so don't make me play the genetic mutation card if you see me standing up on a flight!
But what everyone seems to agree on — even those who think standing up is fine — is that the people who stand and then use their position as an opportunity to push their way ahead in the line to deboard? Those people need to be hurled out onto the tarmac the way those baggage handlers do with our luggage. And if one of those little baggage trains happens to run them over, so much the better. Wait your dang turn!
Still, for me personally? I'd rather someone cut the line than clap when the plane touches down. That nonsense is just absolutely unforgivable!
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice and human interest topics.