A frequent flyer who has traveled to 39 countries and is on a plane “literally every week” says he has never experienced anything like what occurred on a recent flight from the Bulgarian capital Sofia to London Stansted when Ryanair cabin crew directly and repeatedly told passengers to hurry up and sit down.
The TikTok user who goes by the name ‘The Lamarind’ on the popular social media platform caught the incident on camera and has shared what happened in a video that has now gone viral.
@thelamarind_travel i have travelled to 39 countries and am on a flight literally every week and i swear I have never heard announcements like these on a plane before – it felt like i was at the theatre and we were getting the 3 – 5 warning bells. And it was like no one was listening to the steward as it didnt really impact or help the boarding pace – not sure whose idea this was. This was on a RyanAir flight to Sofia from London Stansted #ryanair #travel #fyp #traveltiktok #solotravel #travellife #tiktoktravel #vacation #trip #traveling #tourist #travelcommunity #traveladdiction #traveltheworld #traveladdict #traveldiaries ♬ original sound – the Lamarind | Travel
“We need to close the main aircraft door in five minutes, otherwise we can be delayed by a time which we do not know the duration of. Please hurry up and take your allocated seats as quickly as possible,” the flight attendant implored on the public address system.
The flight attendant then repeated the same warning at two minutes and one minute prior to departure, although this continued as a steady stream of passengers continued to make their way down the aisle.
Did the warnings even make any difference? It’s hard to tell, although, quite frankly, none of the passengers looked like they were making any special effort to take their seats any faster than you might usually expect.
“I have travelled to 39 countries and am on a flight literally every week, and I swear I have never heard announcements like these on a plane before,” the TikTok user wrote.
“It felt like I was at the theatre and we were getting the 3 – 5 warning bells. And it was like no one was listening to the steward as it didn’t really impact or help the boarding pace – not sure whose idea this was.”
This Isn’t Just About Ryanair Wanting To Be On Time
Low-cost airlines like Ryanair famously take running a punctual schedule very seriously, as delays can have a direct impact on the razor-thin margins that these carriers operate on.
During a European summer, however, the flight attendant’s desperate pleas to get everyone in their seats as quickly as possible aren’t just about trying to get the flight away on time.
With so many planes trying to use the same limited airspace, European air traffic regulators place so-called ‘slot controls’ on many flights to ensure the safety of every aircraft in the air.
During busy periods, flights are allotted a specific departure time, which is known as a ‘slot’. This ensures that air traffic controllers can safely manage all the planes in their airspace.
But what happens if a flight misses its allotted slot? The plane and passengers have to sit on the ground until air traffic control can find an alternative departure slot – this can range from just a few minutes to upwards of an hour on bad days.
Things like bad weather, air traffic controller shortages, and special events happening anywhere across Europe can have a knock-on effect on nearly every other flight.
These slots are managed by the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation, which is more commonly known as Eurocontrol. On Friday, Eurocontrol said just over half of all delays across Europe were caused by air traffic capacity, while a further 19% of delays were attributed to air traffic controller shortages.
These delays are felt much harder during the peak summer months and normally dissipate during the autumn until the Christmas rush gets underway.
Sometimes, airlines will board a flight knowing there is no reasonable prospect of meeting the allocated departure slot due to earlier delays. Passengers can be facing a lengthy tarmac delay, but airlines do this in the hope that another flight will also miss its slot, and they can then take the departure time over.
He’s been to 39 countries? Great. How many flights has he been on and if it’s more than ZERO why is he calling the light attendant a “steward.” This isn’t a 1970s porno with “steards” and “stewardesses.” We have FAs and GAs. Maybe he visited all 39 on his 18th birthday in 19-diggity-two.
Timeslots are a thing and if you can make your slot you are FAR FAR better off than waiting. Eurocontrol doesn’t budget “empty” slots so you really do have to wait for someone else to miss their slot. Worse, even if a slot was left open or one opens, you may not be #1 for that slot so you wait.
The ATC slot scheduling in the US is a bit better because distances are longer so flights can be separated… but then there are gate slots, and those are time sensitive.
It’s a mess worldwide, but Europe leads the way in intransigence.
He is probably one of the morons standing in the isle ways waiting on his group 9 to be called, slowing down those that need to make their connection.
Back in the early 90s, I worked for Usair at DCA, Because Of the Noise Abatement Rules, We Had to be OFF The gate Before 10:00 PM, If not The Flight Was Canceled, Many Times I had Most of the outbound Passengers, Standing in the Jetway, Waiting for the last Passengers To deplane, Sometimes It Worked Out, But Then it Didn’t, Never Had A Single Complaint, Because Most of the Passengers knew About….
I’ve had this happen a couple times in the US. Pretty much for the same reasons as mentioned above. Weather delays, our departure would likely have delays on the tarmac, but the pilot gets informed that we can get an available slot in x minutes if we all hurry. The results are mixed, some people will hurry, others don’t. I appreciate getting the chance to try and get to take off sooner. But, people can choose to slow the process and that means we just sit around longer on the ground. Which sucks.