But the moment the plane wheels touch ground pretty much everybody immediately takes off their seatbelts and start pawing at their overhead bin luggage despite the fact the plane still is a good 5 - 10 minutes from getting to the terminal.
Why do people do this? Even people who are in the very very back will rush to their overhead luggage even
In my experience, if anyone tries to get up before the plane is at the gate, they are quickly “reminded.” I’ve never seen anyone successfully get to the overhead bin before the seatbelt light is off.
It’s a fair question. I don’t go for the luggage myself; I just want to stand up.
A related question is why do people want to board first on flights with assigned seating? You do not depart any faster than the last people to get on. You just end up spending more time cooped up on the plane.
And then people wait on the guy ahead of them two rows up who didn’t rush. WTF?
I want to board first so I’m assured of an overhead bin somewhere near my seat. Last to board gets the bins in the back, if those. Most people bring too much stuff and fill the bins before the last 20% can even board the plane.
Where are you flying where you’re seeing people unbuckle and pop out of their seats as soon as the plane touches ground? It is, in fact, a violation of FAA regulations for passengers to unbuckle before the plane parks at the gate.
Before COVID, I flew domestically fairly often, and I’d say that it was very uncommon to see a passenger get out of their seat during taxiing – and when they did, they were nearly always reprimanded by a flight attendant over the PA.
Now, the moment that the plane parks, and the “ding” of the seat belt light turning off sounds, yes, it’s usually a mob to get off the plane.
The limited overhead bin space is a big incentive to board as early as possible. Plus I’ve been flying late at night, so I want to get in, get seated and go to sleep, even before takeoff.
This. Especially once most U.S. airlines started charging for checked luggage, there’s been a trend for passengers to try to carry on as much as possible.
I’ve never seen what the OP described either, but I have been on flights where we land, taxi to kinda sorta near the gate and then stop for a short time (I’m not sure of the reason; maybe they’re waiting for the guy to come marshal us the rest of the way in). Even though the seatbelt sign is still on people start standing up, and then the flight attendants have to announce “We’re not at the gate yet, the seatbelt sign is still on, and the plane can’t legally move until everyone sits back down and puts their seatbelts on.”
If you’d asked me a few years ago, I’d have said that human beings can follow nearly any instruction … save for the one in your OP.
But then the pandemic thing unfolded and shot my theory right to hell. There are clearly any number of very simple things that many cannot be bothered to do.
BTW: some people have really, really tight connections to make in big airports where you have to take a tram from terminal X to terminal Y. For those people, I have compassion … which doesn’t make it okay.
Flight attendant is a hard job. As a passenger, simply not being a douche is pretty much all that’s required 
And in the meantime things like this can happen.
The one time I flew RyanAir, I discovered a possible reason for this: we landed in a small French town which had only one small taxi rank and one Hertz desk.We’d pre-booked a rental car, so weren’t bothered about missing out on a car. Sat on the plane, watching with amusement as the mob practically fought their way out in a rush.
Then sat in the sun for three hours at the back of the queue for a rental car… no-one was getting a taxi, and everyone had pre-booked. Lesson learned.
We try real hard to not stop in places like that exactly because it’s a head-fake for the people who can hardly wait to stand up.
The actual legalities are a little more nuanced than the FAs typically announce. We don’t absolutely have to stop and stay stopped just because people are up. Because sometimes stopping would be the more hazardous choice. But by and large in a spot like that we’ll fuss until everyone is seated then move that last 10 feet or whatever.
Pet peeve time: I’d love to meet the bureaucrat at whichever airline who coined “full and complete stop”. Then beat them bloody. Stuffy legalese has no place in imperative speech. Besides, whether we stop or not isn’t your cue to do anything. It’s the damn sign and the cheery “Ding!”
Southwest.
I’ve been on Southwest flights where people were getting up and using the restrooms prior to take-off so you can pretty much do anything you want on them.
While the plane is still parked at the gate, or after the cabin door has been closed and the plane has pushed back? If the latter, then, again, if you’re seeing that, then you’re also seeing the flight attendants choosing to not enforce the FAA regulations.
But that’s different from the situation you described in the OP:
Is the OP based on an assumption, then? Because that’s not the way it reads–to me, anyway.
I’ve heard stories where a plane landed, and to the complete shock of everyone except the flight crew immediately took off again, for any number of reasons. Maybe that’s a reason why?
One of my favorite air travel anecdotes was this exact situation, and the flight attendant came on the PA and said in a very stern voice, “I said, SIT DOWN!”
I don’t know why the Straight Dope Message Board literally wants a documented source with multiple eye witnesses for every single statement I make but when some “Big Name” person hear makes the bold statement that they don’t make movies about wars America lost everyone is afraid of challenging them.
Also apparently according to pilots on the Straight Dope 8 hour domestic flights don’t exist.
What flights are you thinking? I would be surprised anyone here would doubt an 8 hr+ flight if you count the freak states.