The joke about air travel didn’t land with passengers.
Southwest Airlines has issued an official verdict on whether or not passengers should stand up immediately after their plane touches down — and the internet is fuming.
On June 30, the Dallas-based airline posted the following message to their 269,000 followers on Threads that declared…
“You 👏 won’t 👏 get 👏 off 👏 the 👏 plane 👏 faster 👏 by 👏 standing 👏 up 👏 .001 👏 seconds 👏 after 👏 the 👏 seatbelt 👏 sign 👏 turns 👏 off 👏”
The post poked fun at “aisle jumping,” the practice of hopping up immediately after the plane hits the runway, even before the flight attendants have time to open the door to the aircraft. But even though the airline’s 18 clapping emojis indicated a basic level of sarcasm, many keyboard warriors thought the Fortune 500 company’s “joke” didn’t fly.
Among the plane-spoken responses in the comments section:
“I 👏HAVE 👏TO 👏PEE 👏AND 👏IM 👏AFRAID👏 OF 👏PLANE 👏BATHROOMS👏”
“I 👏have👏 a 👏connecting 👏flight 👏that 👏I 👏am 👏going👏to👏be👏late 👏to👏”
“We 👏 are 👏 overpriced 👏 and bad 👏 at 👏 what 👏 we 👏 do”
The debate comes as airline fares threaten to spike because of rising fuel costs and deranged passenger behavior is broadcast on TikTok and Instagram Reels at sky-high levels. Meanwhile, basic economy seats have been shrinking to the size of Rose’s broken door in “Titanic,” making it nearly impossible for the average traveler to comfortably fit on their perch without paying an astronomical upgrade fee.
Southwest has no official policy against standing when the plane lands, as long as it happens after the pilot has announced that it’s safe to do so. But travel experts like Ben Schlappig of the airline news site One Mile at a Time have a more defined take on the issue.
“We can (and should) differentiate between the value in getting up when people several rows before you are deplaning,” he writes. “Rather than getting up when the door hasn’t even been opened, and you’re 30 rows from the front of the aircraft.”
Fellow aviation nerd Gary Leff of the travel hacking site View From the Wing goes even harder: “You should stand as soon as your plane lands and arrives at the gate,” he insists. “This helps everyone stretch out a little bit, and move faster off the plane… It’s the sort of forward-leaning behavior that’s the hallmark of high performers.”
But not every travel influencer wants to be the stand-up guy (or girl).
“If I notice passengers making a beeline for the front of the plane instead of politely waiting their turn, I am that person who will stand up in the aisle next to my seat so that everyone deplanes in a timely manner,” says travel writer Tarah Chieffi on The Points Guy. “For some reason, I have chosen to make it my personal mission to keep the deplaning process fair.”
Or to put it in parlance that Southwest understands:
Don’t 👏 block 👏 your 👏 fellow 👏 travelers 👏 just 👏 stand 👏 up 👏 quietly 👏 without 👏 getting 👏 in 👏 anyone’s 👏 way. 👏
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