When an Emirates Airline flight crash landed in Dubai, video from passengers inside the plane showed that there was a rush to retrieve cabin baggage from overhead bins before exiting the flaming aircraft. In this instance all the passengers survived (although a firefighter did die fighting the blaze), but it remains an incredibly dangerous practice all the same. Justin Bachman looked at thinking around the scenario.

• One idea is to have a mechanism for the air crew to automatically lock the overhead bins in the event of an emergency to prevent passengers from trying to open them.
• However since the flight crew often stores important equipment that might be necessary in an emergency in those bins, the idea hasn’t caught on.
• Another idea is to impose large fines on those that go for their bags in the event of an emergency.
• But it’s unclear how well known such a fine would be, or how effective a deterrent it would be, given that the chances that anybody will ever be in an air emergency are infinitesimal.
• A study found that the top reasons that people go for their bags are money, wallets, credit cards, work materials, keys, and medication.

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Source: Bloomberg