It’s one of the great scourges of the sky — and finally somebody is doing something about it.
Turkish aviation authorities will fine passengers who stand up early and crowd aircraft aisles while waiting to deplane, with penalties for that and other annoying antics reaching nearly $70.
“Please respect the disembarkation priority of the passengers in front of or around you and wait for your turn,” the Turkish Directorate General of Civil Aviation said in a notice sent to airlines, instructing crewmembers to report over-eager passengers who don’t comply.
People who crowd aisles before its their turn to deplane could face fines of nearly $70 in Turkey kadosafia – stock.adobe.comFines could be up to 2,603 Turkish lira, or about $67, according to the Washington Post.
Other fineable infractions include unfastening seatbelts while the plane is still taxiing, or opening overhead bins before the plane has been parked — all of which the notice described as “strictly forbidden.”
Under the rules, passengers must wait until the deplaning process has reached their row before they can stand up to gather their belongings and proceed off the plane.
The fines were imposed after notable increase in passengers crowding airplane aisles, the notice said, explaining that the behavior poses a risk to “passenger and baggage safety and security” along with affecting the “the satisfaction and exit priority” of others.
Crowding the aisles is technically against Federal Aviation Administration code in the United States, too, with regulations requiring flight attendants to alert the captain if passengers are getting to their feet before the plane is parked.
But those rules only apply while the plane’s seatbelt signs are turned on, and do not apply after they’ve been switched off.
Turkish officials cited an increase in complaints about aisle crowding and the dangers it could pose for the fine Getty ImagesAisle crowders — known in circles online as “aisle lice” — have long faced the ire of irritated travelers who say the behavior is rude and delays everybody’s deplaning process.
Etiquette experts told the Washington Post that the most polite way to deplane is to wait until nearby rows ahead are emptied before entering the aisle, with exceptions for people rushing to catch connections.
“Aisle lice” are close kin in some travelers’ minds to “gate lice” — people who crowd the boarding gate in the terminal in hopes of sneaking on their plane early.
Some airports across the US have even rolled out programs to crack down on gate crowding with alarms that sound for boarding passes scanned ahead of their marked boarding zones.
