If I've been confined in an uncomfortable chair for several hours and discouraged from moving around, you bet that I'll take the first opportunity to stand up and get some blood moving. I know the doors aren't going to open any faster.
I do this, but it's to block people from further-back rows from charging forward and skipping the line to deplane. Which is a problem I feel like has gotten much worse in the last 5 years or so.
"Gate lice" as a term is an example of sneering elitism and this quote from the article explains why:
> And increasingly, airline policy is such that there can be a real, tangible benefit to lining up early. Flights are often full, or even overbooked, which can lead to a sense of pressure among travelers to claim their space early
Airlines are treating the passengers like cattle and they've got to jockey for position for their own benefit. But the early boarding groups (which correlate highly with wealth) and the pundit class are able to come up with this derisive term in response to it.
> Flights are often full, or even overbooked, which can lead to a sense of pressure among travelers to claim their space early
Not if you've got an assigned seat. They aren't going to give your assigned seat to someone who got there ahead of you, no matter how full the flight is.
If you need overhead bin space, then yes, there's a reason to want to be earlier.
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[ 4.0 ms ] story [ 29.4 ms ] thread> And increasingly, airline policy is such that there can be a real, tangible benefit to lining up early. Flights are often full, or even overbooked, which can lead to a sense of pressure among travelers to claim their space early
Airlines are treating the passengers like cattle and they've got to jockey for position for their own benefit. But the early boarding groups (which correlate highly with wealth) and the pundit class are able to come up with this derisive term in response to it.
Not if you've got an assigned seat. They aren't going to give your assigned seat to someone who got there ahead of you, no matter how full the flight is.
If you need overhead bin space, then yes, there's a reason to want to be earlier.