Changing the way people think about deplaning

So, I'm on my way back from training in Ecuador, and as I sit in an airport terminal, I just NEED to address a topic that weightlifters can help change culturally. De-planing.

Being a weightlifter, most of your competitions will be in some non-touristy place that will require connections ( ie Taichung, Taiwan vs the Bahamas). There is a post 9-11 phenomena of airlines cramming their flights to capacity to increase revenue per passenger mile ( I would argue the direct flight Southwest model would be more affective but that is another issue). In effect, planes will be really crowded, and it is even more important to make your connection as there will be few reschedule options due to full flights.

Missing your connection because de-planing took in excess of 10 min is unacceptable both to the consumer and the airline. Think about it- there are huge ripple effects- the airline might have to bump people, you might get stuck overnight in an airport, ticket prices increase to buffer the airlines' cost of rescheduling passengers and offering coupons for passengers who give up seats for, consequently, overbooked flights.

In effect, if someone sitting a row-- or even several rows- behind you, gets all their stuff together and is waiting patiently for the cabin door to open so they can deplane and make a connection-- don't heckle them-- they are keeping the cost of flying down. Likewise, if you are at your home airport and see that someone really needs to de-plane ahead of you, then let them do it. Whining that passengers should deplane is order by row is 1. Childish 2. Not in any of the airline terms and conditions 3. Increases our costs of flying and 4. Just plain inconsiderate and Wasteful.

Do the right thing- deplane in an order that creates minimal externalities and hence maximizes societal happiness.