I totally agree with you. I don’t usually have a checked bag when it’s just me, so there’s no waiting around the baggage claim to look forward to. I DO NOT stop to pull my overhead bag. I’ve either got it under my seat, already pulled it from the overhead, or I fuckin eyeball that thing like there’s about to be a missile intercept (because there is) and I grab and pull while I walk. Once I leave my seat there is no pause. In the same way, if I’m inside on the window, I’m watching for space and when middle seat moves I follow. None of this “oh shit I forgot the light turned green”.
Even now with kids we are only slightly slower than that. I have to let the gremlins (who you probably didn’t know were on the plane because they’ve been hyper entertained out of their fuckin minds) be line leader to walk off the plane and I need enough time to stand up and get the bags off the seat behind me onto my body to urban pack mule that shit out of here.
What I’m NOT doing is texting my boyfriend oblivious to the cues being presented to me, smashing through the line because I’m an inconsiderate fuckwit, or standing up when it’s my turn and gazing into the overheads like I’m lost in the Arby’s menu. Stage your shit and get the fuck off the plane without stopping, then walk like you got some place to be or move to the side. No big deal.
More importantly than any of that though, I’ve got this really weird superpower where I can listen to what the fuck the FAs say. If someone needs to get off the plane first, I can stay seated and wait for them to haul ass off the plane. Or at least I would, except it’s always like a herd of cattle with no awareness instantly reacting to the sound of the seatbelt light turning off no matter what.
I have kids now so some of this applies less but!
I totally agree with you. I don’t usually have a checked bag when it’s just me, so there’s no waiting around the baggage claim to look forward to. I DO NOT stop to pull my overhead bag. I’ve either got it under my seat, already pulled it from the overhead, or I fuckin eyeball that thing like there’s about to be a missile intercept (because there is) and I grab and pull while I walk. Once I leave my seat there is no pause. In the same way, if I’m inside on the window, I’m watching for space and when middle seat moves I follow. None of this “oh shit I forgot the light turned green”.
Even now with kids we are only slightly slower than that. I have to let the gremlins (who you probably didn’t know were on the plane because they’ve been hyper entertained out of their fuckin minds) be line leader to walk off the plane and I need enough time to stand up and get the bags off the seat behind me onto my body to urban pack mule that shit out of here.
What I’m NOT doing is texting my boyfriend oblivious to the cues being presented to me, smashing through the line because I’m an inconsiderate fuckwit, or standing up when it’s my turn and gazing into the overheads like I’m lost in the Arby’s menu. Stage your shit and get the fuck off the plane without stopping, then walk like you got some place to be or move to the side. No big deal.
More importantly than any of that though, I’ve got this really weird superpower where I can listen to what the fuck the FAs say. If someone needs to get off the plane first, I can stay seated and wait for them to haul ass off the plane. Or at least I would, except it’s always like a herd of cattle with no awareness instantly reacting to the sound of the seatbelt light turning off no matter what.