For weary travellers, the journey from touchdown to taxi can feel endless. Now, a surge in poor passenger etiquette is making the final stages of a flight even more frustrating. A new breed of impatient flyer, dubbed "aisle lice," is sparking heated debates among frequent travellers about who ruins the journey more.
The Rise of the Cabin Crawlers
The term describes passengers who, the moment the seatbelt sign chimes off, unbuckle and queue in the aircraft aisle in a desperate bid to be first off the plane. This follows a previous trend of "gate lice" – pushy travellers trying to skip boarding queues. In 2024, American Airlines even took measures to manage gate lice, using alarm sounds and alerts for gate agents.
However, the focus has now shifted inside the cabin. The disruptive behaviour of aisle lice was highlighted in October, when a passenger on a Frontier Airlines flight caused chaos by blocking the aisle as others tried to disembark in Baltimore, Maryland. According to the Daily Mail, fellow passengers demanded she move, but she refused to budge.
Social Media Verdict: Aisle Lice Are Worse
The battle between the two irritating travel types ignited on social media. A Reddit thread last year posed the question: "Who do [we] hate more? Gate lice or aisle lice?" This was prompted by an incident on a flight from Minneapolis to New York, where a first-class passenger complained that their row mates immediately stood up, with the window-seat passenger shoving forward to be first off.
The consensus among commenters was clear. Many argued that aisle lice are "exponentially worse" than their gate-dwelling counterparts. One flyer stated: "If you don't have a tight connection or any other ‘emergency’, then wait your turn to get off the plane." Another added: "Aisle lice slow things down, delay people and cause so many more headaches."
Etiquette, Airlines and Other Bizarre Trends
The universally accepted protocol is to disembark row by row from the front after gathering your belongings. Several online commentators shifted blame to the airlines, suggesting they should do more to actively discourage the aisle lice behaviour onboard.
This latest nickname joins a wave of travel trends that gained notoriety in 2024, including:
- "Rawdogging": A TikTok-born trend where passengers undertake long-haul flights without any entertainment, snacks, or sleep.
- "Check-in Chicken": Travellers who delay booking a seat until check-in almost closes, gambling to snag the best remaining seats like extra-legroom or exit-row spots.
As travel volumes continue to recover, the battle for cabin civility seems set to continue, with aisle lice currently leading as the most irritating inflight pest according to the court of public opinion.
