JetBlue passengers tried to pull down their luggage from overhead bins while the plane was still in the air on a recent flight to Florida.
The chaotic scenes occurred on a flight from LaGuardia Airport in New York (LGA) to Fort Lauderdale Airport (FLL) on September 10, 2023.
22 passengers on board had to take a connecting flight from FLL airport to Mariscal Sucre Quito International Airport (UIO) in Ecuador. Due to tight connecting times, the cabin crew decided to prioritize the 22 transiting passengers when deplaning and suggested that they should be first to exit when the aircraft landed.
Karen Green-Walker, a travel agent who was on board the flight, said that after the announcement was made, other passengers beside those who were transiting suddenly stood and started to open the overhead bins to collect their luggage when the plane was still flying.
Green-Walker shared a clip of the scene on social media platform TikTok, where an exasperated-sounding voice, presumably that of a flight attendant, can be heard over the PA system saying, “Please close the overhead bins.”
Meanwhile, the clip shows passengers continuing to stand and collect their bags.
According to Green-Walker, that was already the third announcement and, at one point, the cabin crew threatened to call the police upon landing.
Green-Walker said that when the flight landed, the group of passengers continued to elbow their way out of the aircraft. She said that a lady next to her was transiting to Quito and passengers who were already standing would not let her out to retrieve her bag.
Green-Walker said in one of her comments that in the race to get bags out of the overhead bins, a piece of luggage almost fell on a passenger.
Due to the disastrous scenario, she said that the 22 transiting passengers ended up missing their connecting flight.
Many suggested via video comments that airlines should seat transiting passengers in front of the plane to avoid this mishap.
Perhaps it’s also time for passengers to brush up on flight etiquette and to simply follow cabin crew instruction.
