By now, you probably have heard of Emirates Flight 521, which made an emergency landing at Dubai International Airport a few days ago.  It was traveling from Trivandrum International Airport in Thiruvananthapuram, India to Dubai when it appeared to catch on fire as it landed.  Miraculously, all 282 passengers and 18 crew members were able to successfully evacuate the aircraft with no fatalities, though one firefighter did die fighting the fire.
The other day, I shared the video taken from INSIDE the plane as it was evacuating. Â In writing the post, I titled the post “Watch these fools try to take their overhead bags off of a burning airplane”
Online reaction
There was a bit of reaction to the headline. Trevor, who runs the excellent Tagging Miles blog over on Saverocity, tweeted
I love how folks call ppl taking their bags “fools”. While not safe; it seems rather demeaning. Not the high road. https://t.co/NiQiOsCu8I
— Trevor (@tmount) August 4, 2016
Now as a blogger, I don’t mind reaction or criticism – after all, that kind of comes with the territory. I’ve got a lot of respect for Trevor, and we’ve met in person several times and he’s helped me out several times with reselling. We chatted a bit about it on Facebook. Â Also, View from the Wing mentioned in one of his posts about the subject
And I’d like to think that in an evacuation scenario I’d follow instructions, leave my bags behind. But I’m also not going to direct outrage at someone’s behavior under that kind of stress when everyone got out ok. The evacuation, what the planes can handle, and the airline’s response so far appear to have been exemplary. That’s where I’d rather focus.
There was also some discussion I saw over on Twitter regarding the condition of South Asian immigrants working in Dubai and other Middle Eastern cities, specifically mentioning that many of these passengers were likely migrants who might have had all or a majority of their possessions in their bags.
Are they fools? Â Or is it foolish behavior? Â Or both? Â (Or neither)
I can take the criticism that my word choice was poor. Â Perhaps the best course of action is to go back to the parenting tactic of correcting the behavior versus engaging in “name calling”. Â Especially since it was only a few months ago that I said that I was taking my bag in an airplane emergency (I’ve since repented)
I get that I’m not in exactly the same situation. Â I’ve traveled a decent amount, so I’m familiar with how things work, and I’m also just the type of person that is constantly analyzing situations for what might go wrong. Â I’m also financially in a situation where it’s unlikely that I will have all of my belongings with me on a plane, and also in a position where if I lost things like my passport and wallet, I’d probably be able to survive generally speaking.
So what to do?
While my word choice may not have been great, I do stand by the general idea that stopping to take bags is a really bad idea and on some level, a degree of “social shaming” is the only way to change this kind of behavior. Â Or do you have another idea?
A couple of suggestions I saw thrown out
- Include more about this in the safety briefings (though I guess that would require people actually LISTENING to the safety briefings….
- Automatically lock overhead bins until the plane lands (I suppose in that case, you might have even MORE delay as people still tried to get to their belongings
- More awareness for people to keep their wallet / phone / passports on their person while on a plane, especially during takeoff and landing.
- Other than that, I’m not sure what else can be done
We’ve had a bit of a lucky streak in air travel where planes have managed successful evacuations (including this one), but in an airplane emergency, seconds count, and stopping to get your bags could easily have made the difference between fatalities and none.
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
so where exactly do the non fools keep their passports, important documents, visas etc etc…10 of 10 flights those have always been in a bag in the overhead bin..and I ain’t leaving those behind…how about having airline provide enough space so we don’t have to keep the bags locked up somewhere..
I can understand not wanting to leave important documents like that behind! I can only describe what I do and others’ situation may be different. I keep my phone / wallet and passport in my pockets or my wife keeps them in her purse at her seat. As I mentioned in the article, I understand others’ situations might be different.
Take your bags, but if it’s that important wait and go last in line to exit. Don’t hold up others more anxious to get themselves off the plane to safety than their bags.
That’s a good compromise…. but not one I think most people will take you up on 🙂
Do you guys really think you need your passport and phone after an emergency landing? Those things are definitely replaceable. Just leave your stuff and get out. If you don’t have a phone, you can borrow one.
While I’m all for civility, and try to treat people respectfully and call them what they want to be called–Merriam-Webster defines “fool” as “a person lacking in judgment or prudence.” It’s hard to see how that doesn’t apply to someone who values their belongings over someone else’s life.
And that’s what you’re doing if you delay the evacuation to get your property. If you slow the line down by five seconds to get your stuff, you’re delaying the exit of the last person by five seconds. You don’t know that the plane won’t be engulfed in flames by the time the last person exits. You’re saying that your stuff–which you didn’t bother to keep with you–is more important than the possibility of killing the last person to exit. If that’s how you behave, “fool” is about the *gentlest* possible name for you. How about “sociopath”?
if I am slowing down the line behind me and you don’t go around me somehow then am I to blame? or maybe u have a lable for that type of people too..lol
I can’t imagine someone trying to maintain civility and running for saving their life…maybe MW’s definition of civility is different…
and yes you do need passport since it also has ur visa
If you want to bring your stuff and you’re willing to be the last one out, be my guest. Any action that gets the end of the line out of the plane later is gambling with the last person’s life. Slow down the line? Take up more space than your body alone does? You’re making the line physically longer and therefore closer to the possible fire, and making the end of the line leave the plane later. You have no right to risk anyone’s life other than your own. How is this even in dispute?
By the very nature of them having to “go around you” you are obviously slowing people down. So yes you are to blame.
Given your attitude I feel it won’t be long until some doesn’t go around you. They’ll go through you. And it will not be them to blame.
Try this one: http://www.milesandevenmore.com/2016/08/no-room-for-racism-emirates-crash-landing.html
Thanks for sharing that – I hadn’t seen that post and I thought it was a good read. I do understand where the author is coming from and I feel for the plight of people who are in that situation. Obviously I’m never going to know what it’s truly like for someone who may have their entire life in their baggage.
But…. do we just say that it’s okay? Or do we have a responsibility to educate people about the real risks of stopping to get your bags in an airplane evacuation? Because next time, those 5 seconds (more like 30+ seconds in many cases) could mean someone else doesn’t get to live.
People underestimate the shock and daze factor. You’ve just slid to a stop.
“Hey, I’m alive, no flames at my feet seem to be OK.”
“OK, now I’m standing in the aisle inching along toward the exit.”
*sigh*
“Guess I might as well grab my bag.”
They only see it takes them a few seconds to grab it. They DON’T see the cumulative effect, none of them have been through an evacuation drill repeatedly both with and without luggage.
When the flames start licking at people’s feet, then you’ll see them dropping their bags. Not only that some will be crawling over and trampling other people to get out.
They aren’t FOOLS, they are merely humans muddling along in an unfamiliar and unexpected scenario.
That’s fair. In the stress and confusion of the moment, they’re behaving foolishly, not thinking through the potential consequences of their actions.
However, people who, not in the heat of the moment, calmly state that they would do the same–that they would plan to impede their fellow passengers’ evacuation for the sake of their possessions–are worse than fools. They are planning to prioritize their possessions over strangers’ lives.
I can sympathize with that. I’ve thankfully never been in such a mega-stress situation. But that’s why I think it’s so important to talk about this NOW, so that people can make the decision NOW. If I can get even one person to plan ahead and keep their important documents / papers / passport / etc. on their person during a plane flight so they don’t have to take their bags in an evacuation, I’ll count that as a win.
YES, it’s foolish. Life without your passport is much better than death with it. What you see is the same callous disregard for human life that results in Black Friday tramplings.
In fact, “foolish” isn’t strong enough language. It’s a self-centered attitude that says, “My stuff is more important than your continued existence.”
There are no excuses. Evacuation-laggard-apologists playing the race card and the poverty card are disgusting. Blog posts like yours are a public service announcement. They should be shared, not debated.
mate, I don’t think you said anything wrong at all, the people getting their possessions were 100% and down right irresponsible. If my child, wife, or family member dies in a plane evacuation because someone wanted to get their laptop there would be a law suit. Further to that, if I am in a plane crash and during the evacuation people stop to get possessions from the lockers they will be getting screamed at right in their face, and if that doesn’t work then they will be getting a very very hard shove in the right direction. when it is go time, you have got to go.