Pushing & Shoving in Airports & Planes

Malkers

Hope I get a response from our Indian members on this one, it just cracks me up.

Just took another Deccan air flight (makes no difference which airline though) to Hyderabad on the weekend and made the same observations as i have done so many times before on domestic Indian flights.

Firstly the pushing and shoving just trying to check in is unbelievable and downright rude but we don't accept it from anyone and never will!

Next up is the same pushing and shoving to pass through security, there is always one that just can't wait and has to lean over your shoulder to get there bag on the scanner belt just as you attempt to put yours on, throwing this bag backwards on the floor usually lets them know their place.

And then on to the call for boarding, seemingly the whole planeload gets up before they have finished the announcement and slams toward the exit door all waving their tickets at the security personnel regardless of their place in the queue. Jen and I however just take our time and usually get through about mid pack, waltz on to the now packed bus so of course we are by the exit door and the steps. The bus pulls up and we make a swiftish pace towards the plane steps, get on board go right to the front and get the exit seats virtually every time (failed this on our return route as they decided to change gates whilst we were queueing).

Then the plane hits the tarmac and before the nose has touched down you hear the first few clicks of the seatbelts coming undone, the brakes come on and after about 3 seconds the first mobile text message bleaps, then the next, then the next whilst I sit there willing the plane to make a sudden stop so a few idiots get their face embedded in the seat trays!

Then just as the plane is almost stopped the announcement comes on to say please remain seated until you are told to deplane (great expression) but oh no, they are up and have the lockers opened and already causing major traffic jams throughout the entire fuselage whilst the hostess is frantically trying to get them to return back to their seats, they of course take no notice because I assume they think they know better and the hostess gives up. All this time of course we are still sat with our seatbelts on and phones still off, we let about half the crowd push and shove to get off and then when the exit traffic starts to move we get going in order to be the last to get on the first bus.

The bus then pulls up to the arrival hall and guess who is first to get off, Jen makes straight for the first corner of the baggage carousel whilst I go for a trolley and return to be at the best spot to get our baggage quickly. Whilst I wait Jen goes to the prepaid taxi booth that has no queue at all and orders a taxi. I grab my bags, we get the taxi after walking past the now massive queue for the prepaids and apart from the no baggage travellers we are first out of the airport and haven't pushed or shoved anyone or even been in the slightest hurry.

When we went to Go for Christmas, there were about 8 other whities on the plane and I kid you not we were all first on the plane to get the best seats and first at the carousel at Goa.

I swear people looked at us on the plane and thought we had been given VIP treatment, even a hostess who I see regularly commented on how we always get the same seats!

Lets discuss this weird phenomenon please!

Oh and by the way, if you are an indian and you ever shove your damn trolley into my shins at the baggage carousel then be prepared for your trolley to run you over

Cheers
Malc

john.sw

I don't like queuing, so I rarely do it.

It is far easier not to be in a hurry, so I am always the last on the plane and the last off.

I was in the bar at Bombay Airport last month, and an official rushed up to me and asked me to hurry to the gate - It was 7:30 and the 8:30 flight I was on wanted to leave early!

I quickly finished my beer and walked straight onto the plane - no queue - no hassle!

If I'm in the expensive seats I don't queue either... I board early and enjoy some complimentary drinks and snacks as I watch the crowds (who have spent the last hour or so queuing, pushing and shoving) queuing, pushing and shoving again to get to their seats...

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PeakXV

Well we usually fly Jet-Club Premiere & have as much assistance as we need to get to the gate and the pushing and shoving problem is something we haven't really experienced. With that in mind, I'm not so sure that all airlines are equal in pre-boarding procedures and corresponding protocol of their customers. The ants-in-the-pants syndrome to get off the plane is extremely ironic to the whole Indian culture where everything else seems to happen on "Indian time" or with very little urgency at all.

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Don't go to India ~ Pre-trip Warnings & Misconceptions?

gopalk

It is in the genes and the upbringing. At all stages of our life we are told that we need to be first and ahead of others. I guess this gets ingrained into the psyche. (And you see it everywhere - queue for movie tickets, getting into and out of trains, getting the waiter to get *their* food faster)

The reason people try to be first to get into the plane could be coz they have luggage and want to ensure that they are able to place it into the overhead bins.

rangss

same here...

GopalK it does matter which airline...

Air Deccan has free seating....and their seats are claustrophobic...makes more sense to have the first row seat for whatever leg space it provides extra.

Also rush for aisle/window seats...
Most important: Baggage ...everyone wants to use the baggage bins which are never sufficient!

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gopalk

Rangss,

It is not just Air Deccan - you can see it in any flight - from international ones to Alliance Air.

Also as Malc observerd it is for the entire process, not just getting the seats - right from getting check in luggage security checked to taking luggage off the conveyors. Dont you see such mad rush to get into the flight fpr jet Airways or IA or others too - in spite of having pre-defined seats?

Malkers

But my point is the fact that by trying to be first they end up being last and don't see the logic like we do, surely they must wonder how we always get the best seat, but they don't seem to work it out, long may it continue says I

Malc
PS: And you're right, its not just planes but I don't have 4 months spare to write down the other occasions but I can't resist putting my traffic observations into this forum when I get the time!

PeakXV

Infact being a foreigner in India, I more often find that Indians will see me and "a great parting of the sea takes place" where they let me go ahead or to the front of the queue, to the point where it's a little embarrassing - I refuse - they insist - and so on. I think its all how you carry yourself too, I am never in a hurry and my body language telegraphs that - Indians are extremely perceptive and will understand if you are being overbearing and will
adjust to you accordingly.

Digital Drifter

It's all as Malkers describes it and more. The only defence(if I may be allowed to call it that) is that, even when you've got a confirmed ticket, you can see the plane from the lounge, even if you hear the boarding announcement, it's that feeling that you might get bumped off the flight for no apparent reason.

It's that lurking fear, you see.

The only time, I ever saw people put in thier place was the KLM-NWA flight in Delhi. Just as the captain announced "landing positions please" and the the attendants had asked/checked the seat/belts and gone to their respecitve seats....

In the stillness of the economy bay, there's a loud click, and an idiot unbuckles his seatbelt and rises to open to overhead cabin bay.

"SIT DOWN" a loud bellow from the back of the plane and 120 heads snapped around in shock, craning ot see who yelled. The culprit(who must have shat out a brick) sank like a stone into his seat. It helps if you're a tall, hefty African American lady who takes no shit and who refuses to give your 4th scotch. My seatmate was swearing under his breath unable to buck up courage to get his next shot.

When the plane landed and taxied into the bay, there was a moment's hesitation and then.....

bedlam as Malkers described, returned.

OR maybe they were fleeing the aircraft.

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Sama

When I flew Lufthansa from Frankfurt to Chennai, I was shocked (and not too many things shock me anymore....) at the behavior. Everyone was at the gate getting ready to board when the flight attendant made the announcement that people needing assistance and people with children should board first. Well, they opened the door, and the mad rush began, Indian men literally knocking over women and children to board the plane The gate attendants fled. Children were being knocked to the ground and stepped over. I just held onto the pole I was standing next to. Men (the husbands) who had their children looked scared, holding onto their wives and kids. A family was standing next to me and I helped their little girl up off the floor and I told the father "there's an opening, run!" It was chaos.

Then when we get on the plane, of course there are people standing in the aisles trying to get their bag in the overhead bin. Does anyone wait for the person to finish and sit down? Hell no, people just shove right past. I was standing in the aisle struggling with my bag and a guy tried to push past me and I turned around and yelled "EXCUSE ME! YOU CAN WAIT!" and gave him a look that said "bring it on, pal." He stopped in his tracks real quick and wouldn't look at me.

And people say Americans are rude.

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Jeroen

The trick to be the last one on the first bus to the plane always works for me too in Europe.

The worst crush I experienced was at Leh airport when all 3 morning flights take off at about the same time and there was a crowd of foreigners and Indians trying to get through the one-scanner safety check; lots of shouting and pushing. I realised that the plane won't leave without me on board (safety rules state that no plane can take off with a passenger's bags on board and without that passenger) so I got a chai, read a magazine and waltzed through 20 minutes later when the scrum had heaved through.

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Auntyji

This phenomenon is definitely due to the lurking fear, as DD says- the fear that you will not have access to something or that something will run out. There are always stampedes in ration shops. Everyone wants to get ahead and few people seem to realize that an orderly queue might actually help move things along faster.

When I was in elementary school in India, I had to buy my textbooks at the beginning of every school year, at a bookstore in Luz (Madras). People would stand crowding the counter waving slips of paper with the textbooks' names on them, and yell out the names. I don't know if the shopkeeper ever asked them to form a line. My dad once begged people to form a line after standing for an hour trying in vain to get to the counter. I can't remember what happened because I was so embarrassed by him walking about and trying to organize a queue (was in the third grade and didn't care for any undue attention).

john.sw

Air India allows passengers to carry the whole contents of their house as hand luggage.

Because they are worried about not finding space to store it in the overhead lockers, the heavy-laden passengers rush to be on the plane first and spend the next half hour trying to cram their ridiculous cases, cardboard boxes, kitchen sinks, etc. into the lockers above their seats, my seat and everyone elses seats!

That's my theory, and I'm sticking to it!

© John.sw's Theory - January 2006 All Rights Reserved

davey

recently I joined a small Que at Jaipur Railway station for foreign tourist, disabled ,freedom fighters etc, in front of us was another Aussie girl who was backpacking on her first trip to India, Just as she came to the front of the window a person dropped a bottle of water from behind us, then kicked it to the front of the window picked it up and stood up as though he was at the front of the Que. together we both grabbed at him spun him around and let him know ...Not on, even other Indians in ques next to us laughed at him at his attempts to push in I thought for her first trip she was learning pretty quickly. I think it has happened to us that many times now that I have got to the stage that I dont accept it and either push them away in a nice way or tell them to bugger off back to the rear of the que.

TimMakins

I was sitting in Economy on a flight to somewhere. The flight had hardly landed when, as mentioned above, passengers got up in their hurry to be off. Behind me, a laconic voice commented: 'I see there's the usual lemming-like rush for the closed doors'.

Tim in Ireland.

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