Plane passengers are increasingly risking their lives by going back to rescue their bags during evacuations, airline bosses warn
Plane passengers are increasingly risking their lives by going back to rescue their bags during evacuations, air bosses have warned.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) called attention to the safety risk at a recent gathering of airline bosses.
It is understood that some fatalities in the Aeroflot Sukhoi Superjet crash-landing in 2019 were partly blamed on passengers flouting the rules and blocking the aisle as they looked to retrieve their bags.
Forty-one people died in the blaze when the jet landed at Sheremetyevo, Moscow's business international airport after being struck by lightning.
While regulators require airlines to run test evacuations to ensure a plane can be evacuated within 90 seconds, the reality can be very different, as passengers reach for their belongings in the overhead lockers before departing the aircraft.
LAS VEGAS 2015: Passengers fleeing the British Airways Boeing aircraft with their luggage
MOSCOW 2019: The Aeroflot Sukhoi Superjet crash-landing in 2019. The plane had registration number RA-89098
Nick Careen, head of safety, security and operations at IATA, said mobile phone footage increasingly shows people clutching their bags as they descend the evacuation slides.
He told The Telegraph: 'Fines never work, unfortunately. Despite the fact that this is a global standard and a requirement on every flight, the propensity is that it is still a challenge.
'The only way is to explain that there is a good reason for this, and that it's for your own benefit. We need to educate the customer on why the regulations are there.'
More often than not, Mr Careen said evacuations go 'very well', but examples of inadequate evacuations are becoming more prevalent.
MOSCOW 2019: A tower of smoke sits above the Russian-made aircraft as it exploded into flames on Sunday evening in the country's capital
MOSCOW 2019: The Russian plane exploded in a fireball as it made an emergency landing at Moscow's main international airport
In 2015, British Airways passengers were filmed dragging their suitcases away from a jet that had caught fire in Las Vegas.
Last September, almost every passenger escaping an Air China aircraft that had landed in Singapore with an engine on fire had grabbed their belongings.
Airlines could be partly to blame for the issue as they introduced charges for checked luggage two decades ago, The Telegraph said.
As a result, more passengers have opted for taking carry-on luggage which can be brought into the plane cabin in a bid to save their money.
