Flying? How many of you have noticed, that people just love queuing up at the gate while an aircraft is boarding? In fact, I have noticed that even before the gate has opened some people love queuing up. Zone wise boarding? No no! People still want to queue up. Upon landing the plane doors aren’t even open yet and there are many who will happily queue up in the aisle.
While utterly illogical for the most part, we can explain this behaviour by basic human nature to be a bit insecure.
We see a queue growing in size, and we feel compelled to join the front of the queue. We don’t want to cede our territory and be at the back of it. Perhaps we are anxious that we may not get space in the overhead storage compartment or we are petrified that we may miss out on boarding in a sane way. Perhaps we are anxious that we may face inconvenience by many aisle obstacles. Whatever is the reason, yesterday something really funny happened. While flying to Chennai one such queue was standing for almost an hour. When the gate finally opened, and boarding started we hoarded into a bus. I was expecting mayhem. However, people seemed already satisfied by standing in the queue for absolutely no reason.
I have given up on queuing when flying
I’d rather sit quietly and read a book or observe other people while wondering why do people queue up. I go towards the end of the queue. This is when most people board feeling peaceful and accomplished that I’m still going to get my reserved seat and it doesn’t matter if there is no overhead storage left for my handbag.
Our brains are wired to be competitive it feels irrational to not queue up it also feels like if you queue up you will get into the plane faster but the plane ain’t leaving until boarding is complete! Hey but who am I to tell hundreds of limbic systems bored at the prospect of flying in a pressurised tube at 30000 feet and trying to get some excitement by queuing up 🙂?
Some lessons in real life I can relate with. What do you think?
- Don’t engage in meaningless competition
- Sometimes just because all others are doing it, you don’t have to do it
- While fear of missing out FOMO can be real the effects often can be unfounded
- just because you are busy doesn’t mean you are productive
Until next time, ciao!!
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