Currently waiting for a flight to Stockholm from stanstead, sat waiting at the gate during a small (I hope) delay, and wondering why everyone is standing in a line waiting for the gate to open. All the seats are reserved, so surely it makes little difference?!

Queue*** Jesus what a moron I am.

44 comments

  2. It’s good to get onboard quickly so you can get an overhead locker close to your seat and get settled in to avoid the rush.

  3. If it’s short haul it’ll be to get their bags in the overhead lockers. If you’re last on usually they’re full and you have to have it by your feet, or you have to go hunting up and down the plane for a spot.

  6. Firstly, this is hardly unique to the Brits.

    Overhead bin space mostly, though I don’t usually carry anything bigger than a backpack so I can have it by my feet.

    I like to get on there first as I pay for an exit row window seat, so I can plonk myself down quickly, not disturb anybody else and then go to sleep as quickly as possible.

    I’d rather stand up for a little while before hand to be able to get on the plane and in my seat quickly so I can just sit there undisturbed and not move for a couple of hours.

  7. Overhead locker assignment doesn’t come with the seats.

    Plus are you sure everyone that is queuing is British?

  8. There’s a non-zero chance that the flight is overbooked and you won’t get your seat.

    I also think there’s a psychological thing about making progress. Getting a flight is a long and tedious process, and a way to offset that tedium is to change from one state to another, so waiting at the gate, then waiting in line, and then waiting on the plane feels like three distinct parts of the process, rather than one really long one

  9. Queueing is a national pastime for us Brits. We are very good at it and we like to show our queueing skills off whenever we can.

  10. I always make the assumption that people in the queue may not have flown a lot, and don’t “know better.”

    From frequent travel, I’ve had a few epiphanies in the last few decade or so – one being that I can actually have a sit-down and relax while everyone else queues!

  12. I’m right with you. Why would anyone want to be on an aeroplane longer than is necessary. I wait right to the end. Issues with overhead locker space seems to have dissipated now given you have to buy the bag. Also if I’m on last and there’s spare seats I know they’re free so can easily nab a free row to myself.

  13. I’m with you. It’s not like you can pick a better seat, or one bit of the plane gets to the destination first. I happen to have a shit load of BA points, one of the ”perks” I get is boarding first. I have no idea what advantage that is meant to confer.

    There is an argument that if you’re the last person on with a stupidly oversize bag, you might be worried that it will go in the hold, but in 99% of cases they will find a home for it because they’re not opening the hold again….

  14. People do that in the US as well. And don’t even get me started on when the plane lands. Everyone stands up as if that’s going to help them before we’ve even approached our gate.

    I’m a “sit in the back and wait it out” kind of gal.

  15. speaking only for myself i just want to get on the plane because my brain thinks ‘on plane, job done’ i can then relax and read my book

    sitting at the gate requires some brain activity to pay attention to what’s going on, sitting on the plane doesn’t

  18. Because it is progress. You’ve moved from the sitting stage to the queuing stage. The end result being the same is unimportant.

  22. If you are late to board, you might not be able to have your hand luggage with you onboard as there’s only a limited amount of space available, also you don’t want your luggage on the other end of the plane.

  23. The only reason I get to the gate the moment it’s called and queue up is purely for overhead luggage space near my seat.

    If you wait until the end, you’re just not going to have any space and that feels like a nightmare

  24. People say its to do with the overhead lockers?

    I never queue and always sit down and wait till the end to board – I have never had any issue putting my bags in the lockers.

    I rely dont understand why people queue like this and was hoping for some answers!

  25. It’s not exclusive to “brits”, it happens at airports all over the world, and half the people flying out of Stansted aren’t British anyway.

  27. No good reasons imo, same reason the stand up as soon as the plane lands, just silly.

    And if you get in and there is no space, the flight attendants will sort it you won’t be kicked if the plane. No one wants to steal your bags on a plane.

  30. I’ve only done this once because I had fragile items in my carry on, so I wanted to make sure it went in the overhead and not the main hold. Otherwise yeah, I’m happy to sit and wait for my turn. Same thing with disembarking, I usually wait until the queue to get out has started moving properly.

  32. This is not a British thing, it’s a short-haul flight thing (in Europe at least, interestingly I haven’t seen it so much in the US). People are increasingly taking the piss with cabin baggage, so getting on the plane earlier increases the likelihood that you’ll find space.

  33. Overhead locker for me. I was once coming back with carry on and decided to walk on last and they said my baggage had to now go in the hold.

    This meant I couldn’t just wlak out the airport the other side I had to wait for luggage to come off for me to go. It annoyed the hell out of me because overheads fit three bags so clearly they were allowing people to over fill or not are arrange them properly.

  34. Forming an orderly queue to get on a plane is better than the gate opening and everyone just stampeding forward to get on.

  35. IMO a lot of people’s weird behaviour when flying is about reducing feelings of powerlessness. The queueing the moment the gate opens, the taking your seat belt off the moment the little light goes off, the standing up and walking around aimlessly on short-haul flights, the getting ready to disembark the moment the tyres make contact with the runway – they’re all little ways of exerting self-determination and feeling in control even though you have none.

    I quite enjoy just sitting there quietly observing all the little ways people try to convince themselves their lives aren’t completely in the hands of two strangers they’ll never meet and some electronics.

  36. Sometimes I prefer stand at the gate, cause I’ll be sitting down for hours on the plane.

    If standing, might as well stand in the queue.

  37. I don’t really understand this but I do understand not wanting to be the last ones on.

    If you are the last and you don’t have hold luggage then your bags could get put in hold, and assuming you get through passport control quickly on the other side this could mean a wait of 30 minutes to get your bag back.

    I am normally just chill, and will be last to board but if I’ve got a carry along bag and no hold luggage I’ll try and make sure im not the last quarter or so.

  38. What annoys me is the entitlement of those at the front. Theyre always sour faced when we walk in front of them with our young children because they board young families first… Dude, you’re in area 8 and everyone knows that boards last

  40. Nope. on a flight back in July we sat and enjoyed our coffee’s for another 25 minutes in the A/C’d restaurant while the muppets queued for a reserved seat in the little corridor place and moaned. Don’t see the point rushing to be first on.

  41. It’s because of PTSD of having your overhead locker space taken by someone else (because it’s first come, first serve) and then not being able to find where to put your stuff

  42. More importantly, why does everyone stand up as soon as the plane lands? You’re in row 72 Janice, you’re getting off last

  44. We don’t like it. It’s just a fair, just and efficient system that prevents us from acting like a swarm of barbarians.

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