Passengers should stay buckled up in their seats until it is time to disembark – but the common practice of scrambling to get bags first has irritated fellow tourists for years
Plane passengers in Turkey have been warned they will be fined if they rush out of their seats to get their bags before the aircraft comes to a complete stop.
Penalties of up to £50 have already been issued in the nation, which says airlines are fed up of demanding passengers stay seated while the plane lands and taxis to the terminal. Impatient passengers often stand up, reach for their bags and queue in the aisles for long periods – even before the aircraft is stationary.
But now the Turkish Civil Aviation Authority is clamping down on this practice, which is said to irritate some passengers. A source said: “According to the regulation, airlines are obliged to remind passengers to fasten their seatbelts during and after landing until they reach the parking position and to explicitly point out that any infringement will be reported to the aviation authority, and a fine will be impose.”
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Is it acceptable to put your feet up on a plane?
Is it acceptable to put your feet up on a plane?
Passengers in Turkey will now remain seated, even after the seatbelt sign has gone off, until it is their turn to leave the aircraft, reports German DPA news agency. It is hoped this practice will end tension, sometimes seen when passengers scramble for their luggage in overhead lockers.
Critics question the logic of queueing in an aisle rather than waiting until it is one’s turn to leave and then retrieving one’s bag. However, on a discussion on Reddit, people said they often stand up to relieve cramp after a long flight, rather than stand up in the hope to leave the aircraft quickly.
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One person on Reddit wrote: “I aspire to do this [stay seated] and normally try to, but sometimes my ADHD gets the better of me and after sitting still for many hours I am about to explode if I stay in my seat another second.”
Authorities are set to monitor how, if at all, the new rule affects tourism in Turkey. The nation is among the top ten most visited countries, attracting tens of millions of tourists each year. People like to visit the historic sites there, while others head to Turkey to use the country’s flourishing hair transplant and cosmetic clinics, which offer travellers cheaper treatments than found in Britain and other western countries.
Turkish Airlines, which is the country’s flagship carrier, flies to 131 countries and competes with other regional airlines, such as Emirates and Qatar Airways. It is thought each of these will have to impose the Turkish Civil Aviation Authority’s new regulation.
