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Comment by mtlmtlmtlmtl | Hacker News Reader

I'm somewhat agoraphobic, and I always hated boarding airplanes, but I eventually found a way to avoid most of the bullshit: pick an aisle seat, and board the plane last or close to last on purpose.

It's a bit interesting to just sit there at the gate and watch people rush to get into the line as fast as possible. The plane leaves at the same time for everyone anyway. Crowd behaviour is a very strange and paradoxical thing sometimes.

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It isn't that paradoxical. Waiting until the last minute can make a you victim of the "overhead bin space" pirates who load up the bins with stuff that should have been checked and leave you to worry about gate checking.

The fear is real. There is no space under the seat for both a bag and feet if you are tall. I carry a reasonable sized carry on but it contains a work laptop and a few mobile devices / tablets (I'm a mobile dev) plus prescription medication. I get so anxious waiting to see if there will be space.

Also, a seated passenger has a better legal status than an unseated one. In the event of a seat dispute, sit down (in any seat, if you have to) and let the cabin crew sort out the mess.

Being seated can't be legally meaningful

And even if it were, I can't imagine actually bringing lawyers into it even in the rare event of the airline not noticing until after boarding that two people have the same seat.

Being "seated" is not, but being "boarded" actually is, with respect to being bumped. Generally, being boarded means that you can only really be removed from the plane for inappropriate behavior, otherwise your removal is considered by definition involuntary, which means more compensation (and cash compensation, at that - which I know is changing soon).

Yeah the real reason to get on the plane first is bag space. With that said I do like Southwest’s method where the earlier you get on the plane the better your seat is. It incentivizes getting to the gate early and as such on time departures and still lets them play with fare classes and tiers

Southwest is truly elite boarding on those few airports where you can board from the nose and tail at once. Feels like we are off in 10 minutes.

I don't think it's that strange. People can queue early because they want to get overhead storage space (it often fills up), or just get the process done with and sit down and relax.

Personally I can focus on my book better if I'm boarded and don't have to monitor announcements.

Same. The boarding process is the most annoying part, whatever the method, and the sooner it's over and done, the sooner I can settle in.

> The plane leaves at the same time for everyone anyway.

And I'd rather wait for it on the plane than at the gate. Once I'm on the plane that's it for X hours, can relax more, nothing I need to do for a while.

You realise they sell (or it's a perk of travel class / reward system / etc.) priority boarding right? Some people do value boarding early, they're not confused and think the plane is going to move sooner.

Too late to edit, but for the same reason if I possibly can (i.e. no checked luggage or bag drop open) I'll wait post- not pre-security. The common thing being just to move forward as far as possible as soon as possible, and spend as long as possible with nothing imminent to do.

If you're one of the last on board they sometimes try to take your bag away from you.

I do the same, I've never undestood the rush either

If you are traveling with hand luggage and it's a busy flight I try to board early so I can store it above myself, it very often happens that the overhead compartment is full and they ask you to store your luggage 5 rows behind you which is annoying (Especially on tight connections).

Or they force you to stow it with the checked luggage and you now need to wait at the luggage carrousel after the flight rather than just waking out.

My traveling stress went down significantly once I got a travel backpack, because I don't need to use the overhead bin anymore, I just cram it under the seat in front of me. And in general carrying a backpack is easier than rolling luggage. Granted this only works for business travel, when I can pack lightly.

It's funny, I recently switched from a backpack to a hard carry on case specifically because using a backpack was causing me to have to store my bag under the seat in front of me, thereby losing space for my feet and having to deal with my legs being squashed and my foot at an uncomfortable angle for the entire flight.

Little hack the flight attendants don’t like when making their takeoff and landing checks: just put the bag under your legs and stretch them out. If the plain hit major turbulence your legs are still pinning the bag from being on top of them but you can actually fully extend your knees.

Ironically, most of this habit came from the airlines having horrible baggage times. They invested in this a lot to the point that for most of the airports I'm usually in (SEA, SLC, DAL, BOS), even when I do check bags, I can't remember a time in the last few years where my bags haven't been on the carousel by the time I get there.

The only things I will not ever check are my camera gear, and I'll fight to avoid a gate check too (I've only had one occasion where I've been pressed to do so, and I just told the agent that what was in the case exceeded their checked bag insurance, and she told me to take it with me. I've also heard anecdotes about photographers carrying $50 or $100 and if being 'required' to gate check, turning to people behind them and saying "this is for you if you'll gate check so I don't have to" - no idea how that's worked out for them).

I have travelled a fair bit. For me, getting my boarding pass scanned, boarding the aircraft, bag stowed, my little bit of electronics sorted, sitting in my seat - it means I’m done, I have no more responsibilities, I can relax until I get to my destination.

Until I’m on the plane, I have to live in the world of the airport, where things can and do go wrong. Once I’m on the plane, I can go back to my own world.

After choosing an aisle seat on Aer Lingus where the flight attendants were rushing alcohol past me to various customers, I think the window seat ultimately lets me touch fewer people. So many people bumping past your shoulders and legs in the aisle!

I usually book a window seat, so I am quite keen to get on early simply so that I'm not jumping over anyone who may have sat down in a seat away from the window.

I'm rushing on for the same reasons you hang around and that's to help the boarding process.

If you have baggage this often does not work, as there is not enough space in overhead bins.

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