Southwest Airlines reignited a long-held etiquette debate among travelers in a jesting post on Instagram Threads.
Southwest Airlines posted June 30, , “You 👏 won’t 👏 get 👏 off 👏 the 👏 plane 👏 faster 👏 by 👏 standing 👏 up 👏 .001 👏 seconds 👏 after 👏 the 👏 seatbelt 👏 sign 👏 turns 👏 off 👏.”
The post exploded on Threads, sparking people on both sides of the debate to weigh in. Many commenters explained that they get up more to stretch their legs than to potentially speed up deboarding time.
“Maybe👏🏻I👏🏻need👏🏻to👏🏻stretch👏🏻my👏🏻legs👏🏻after👏🏻sitting👏🏻in👏🏻your👏🏻cramped👏🏻plane👏🏻,” one user said.
Others argued that standing up and being ready to enter the aisle can speed up the painful process.
“I 👏 HAVE 👏 TO 👏 PEE 👏 AND 👏 I’M 👏 AFRAID 👏 OF 👏 PLANE 👏 BATHROOMS 👏,” the top commenter said.
On the other side of the proverbial aisle, users argued that standing up quickly is rude: “I don’t push in front of people and try not to be in others’ way. I wait for rows in front of me to get off.”
While many users had strong stances, some were just enjoying the discourse: “Y’all messy! And I’m here for it! 😆.” (RELATED: ‘Bang’: Firework Collides With Plane Carrying 52 Passengers)
Diane Gottsman, an etiquette expert, told Fox Digital that “moving into the aisle and trying to push is a definite etiquette faux pas.”
Gottsman also defended early standers: “With long flights, people are anxious to stand up and stretch their legs,” adding, “they also want to get their suitcases out of the bins and be prepared to efficiently walk out of their aisle.”
While most of Southwest Airlines’ posts have anywhere from several hundred to a few thousand likes, this post garnered more than 85,000 likes and 5,000 comments as of July 8. The company stopped using Twitter in January 2024.