It seems like every couple of days, a commercial flight makes the news over something that went wrong, and that’s even before you account for all the small, private plane crashes. In one of the most recent examples, CNN reports an American Airlines flight leaving Denver International was evacuated prior to takeoff after experiencing a “possible landing gear incident.” The good news is, everyone got off the plane with only one reported injury. The bad news is, a video of the evacuation showed many passengers ignored crewmember instructions and grabbed their bags before leaving the plane.
That, my friends, is what we call “a bad idea,” and it’s not just because you’re supposed to follow all crew orders. You’re supposed to leave your bags on the plane during an emergency evacuation because it slows you down, and in turn, lengthens how long it takes to get everyone else off the plane. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, commercial aircraft need to be able to be fully evacuated in 90 seconds or less, but according to CNN, evacuating this American Airlines flight took 10 to 15 minutes. Yikes.
Thankfully, the brake fire that broke out as a result of the landing gear issue wasn’t big enough to take the entire plane with it, but that also isn’t something you’re going to know when the crew gives the order to evacuate the plane. And when they say to leave all carry-on items behind, they’re serious. You get up, get off the plane and worry about your designer luggage, laptop and charger cables later. Pausing to grab your bags doesn’t just make you selfish. It makes you a danger to everyone else on the plane.
Leave everything behind
The good news is, as you can see in the video above, not everyone on board ignored crew instructions. Some people did what they were told and left their bags on board, but you can also see that wasn’t the case for far too many of them. And even if you care more about your bags than other people getting off the plane safely, there’s another lesson to be learned here, too. Going down the emergency slide and landing gracefully on your feet at the bottom isn’t exactly guaranteed, but it looks like the passengers carrying their bags had a much harder time doing so than everyone else.
So, even in a situation like this one, where passengers taking at least 10 minutes to evacuate the plane didn’t prove deadly, you significantly increase your chances of injuring yourself on the tarmac when you lose your balance. You also run the risk of your luggage puncturing the slide on your way out, potentially injuring other passengers and making it far more difficult for the crew to manage the evacuation.
As the video above points out, even if you travel with nice luggage, the Department of Transportation requires airlines to cover any damage to your bags while they’re under the airlines’ control. So even if the entire plane burned up and took your luggage with it, you’d still be entitled to compensation for what you lost. It’s also just stuff, and stuff can be replaced. People, on the other hand, are much more difficult to replace, and prioritizing your personal convenience over other people’s lives is bad, actually.
If the crew announces an emergency evacuation, just leave your bags. It’ll be fine, and no bag is worth risking someone else’s life. If that isn’t a good enough reason for you, at least leave your bags behind so you don’t get mocked for your bad behavior online. Surely, you don’t want that, right?
