Flight attendant warns passengers not to wear headphones when boarding a plane
A flight attendant has explained why being distracted when boarding your flight is a big mistake – and could cause delays and injuries.
Cici, a cabin crew member who posts on TikTok told Insider that staring at your phone or wearing your headphones can cause unnecessary issues when trying to take your seat.
Most of us are tired or a bit stressed at the airport having spent time travelling, going through security and then dawdling in the airport for perhaps hours waiting for our flight. This means we’re often using our phones for some entertainment when climbing on the plane – but you should apparently turn this off until you’re seated again.
Cici claims that distracted passengers can cause injuries to themselves or others. Plus, being distracted can lead to incidents which anger other passengers and even make flights leave the airport late.
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The flight attendant noted: "If you're playing on your phone or listening to music, you can't communicate with the people around you, and that's where I see a big problem. When you're boarding a plane, you are doing a task and you should be focused on that task. People get to their seat and realise they don't have a place for their bag, so they have to go a couple of rows back. Well, the distracted person that's behind them is following them very closely."
Apparently, this means that when the person in front has stored their bag and turns to go back to their seat there’s often a pile-up of passengers. Cici says this is because the distracted person doesn’t realise they should leave space for the person to return. Instead they follow behind and so do those behind them – filling the plane aisle so that the person ahead can no longer return easily and people have to climb around each other and their bags.
This kind of passenger traffic jam could cause people to be hit by backpacks and water bottles, or for luggage to fall and hit other people causing injury. It also winds a lot of people up and could cause tense words or even shouting arguments from those with a short fuse.
All in all, it’s best to pay attention to what you and others around you are doing so that you can adapt and help yourself and others to get sat down comfortably and easily. Cici claims that a rise in distracted passengers has been obvious in recent years.
She noted that this can be because of stress or nerves but hopes people will choose to be more aware. It’s also quite bad manners not to say hello or smile at your flight attendants when they greet you on the plane – just FYI!
One airline has decided to change the way its planes are boarded in an attempt to avoid such hassles. They'll instead call for all window seat passengers to board first followed by those in the middle and finally the aisle seats.
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