Airlines investigate why passengers put lives at risk for their bags

Airlines have consulted psychologists to understand why so many passengers risk their lives by grabbing their bags during an emergency.

Mobile phone footage from recent evacuations has shown that people are increasingly pausing to recover their belongings from overhead lockers before evacuating a stricken aircraft.

This has fuelled concern among airlines, with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) warning that such behaviour will ultimately result in tragedy.

The trade body will launch a study in the next few months into the psychology underlying people’s willingness to risk their own survival and that of fellow passengers for their bags. Willie Walsh, IATA’s director general and a former chief executive of British Airways, said the “dangerous phenomenon” had become “a more and more common feature of evacuations”.

He said: “These images are very worrying, and we intend to do more research to better understand what is happening. It’s an absolutely crazy thing to do.“If I’m on an aircraft and it has to evacuate, I’m getting off and not waiting for anyone. There is nothing more important in your luggage than your life.”

Safety mandates require that aircraft be evacuated within 90 seconds, with only half of the exits in use. This target, Nick Careen, IATA’s safety and security chief, said, is “not close” to being achieved. Mr Careen said that the problem had become apparent from video footage of people sliding down escape chutes or stumbling from aircraft doors while clutching their bags.

He said: “It’s something that’s become noticeable. Luckily, it hasn’t resulted in deaths, but what we’re trying to do is avoid that.

“Looking at this from a psychological perspective is going to be really important in understanding whether this is a behaviour that we can change, and if it is, what do we need to do to appeal to people to do the right thing?”

Mr Careen cited the example of a Delta Air Lines plane that overturned on landing in Toronto in February with 80 passengers and crew aboard, 21 of whom sustained injuries.

He said: “The aircraft slipped and rolled on the runway, yet there were pictures of everyone running away with their suitcases.“Anyone who has been through this will know that the flight attendants are going to be screaming at the top of their lungs to exit the aeroplane and leave everything behind.”

He said the propensity for people to travel with cabin bags rather than deposit suitcases in the hold, as was once the norm, may be part of the issue, with possessions tantalisingly close in the event of an evacuation.

He said: “It’s a problem that’s inherent in all of us. Your laptop and electronic devices are just there above your head.”

The study will also examine whether passengers pause to retrieve their bags en masse or adopt a “herd mentality” after the first person reaches for the overhead locker. It will also seek to explain why people’s willingness to follow safety instructions appears to vary across continents.

Japanese passengers “are going to get out of the aircraft,” Mr Careen said, while travellers in North America appear most likely to delay evacuating to retrieve their belongings.

He said that the US Federal Aviation Administration is also alarmed, having witnessed “some spectacular issues with people running across the tarmac with their bags”.

The Telegraph, London

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