Have I got an idea for these passengers.

It happened earlier this summer.

While still on the tarmac in San Francisco, a laptop stowed in an overhead bin started smoking.

"Everybody off the aircraft, let's go," an American Airlines employee can be heard saying over the intercom for the Airbus A321.

"Just keep going. Just keep going. Just keep going," a woman can be heard saying as passengers in the back of the plane seem to have difficulty exiting.

...A woman appears to point to something in an overhead bin, tying up traffic when "Go, go, go" can be heard in the background.

"Leave everything behind," one flight attendant says.

At least one carry-on bag can be seen sitting on a plane's seat abandoned during the evacuation.

"Come this way, leave everything," another flight attendant echoed. (Source: Fox Business)

Glad that one passenger came to their senses and abandoned their carry-on bag, but the fact (recorded, naturally, on video) that there were multiple folks trying to retrieve their belongings rather than just get the f' off the plane is disturbing. 

I'm sure they weren't thinking clearly, and I do understand the impulse to grab your stuff. I understand it so well that of late I've taken to hanging a small cellphone pouch around my neck that holds my phone, ID, and credit card: all the stuff you'd want to have with you in case of an emergency evacuation - and the kind of stuff that most men will have in their pockets (and most women will carry in their pocketbooks). So I do get the impulse to try to not leave your important things behind. And even your unimportant things like a change of clothing, the latest People magazine, a couple of granola bars. Sure, that change of clothing includes a sweater you just bought and really, really, really, really like - and haven't gotten to wear yet. But here's the deal: they're just things. They're not people, actual human beings, which would be the folks in the rows behind you who may not make it out if you're futzing around trying to dislodge your wheelie bag from a chocked-to-the-gills bin while smoke is filling the cabin and flight attendants are hollering for passengers to go, go, go. (Fellow passengers were hollering as well.)

Fortunately, SFFD was quickly on the scene, and only three people experienced "minor injuries." (No word on whether it was smoke inhalation or being clunked on the head by their own or someone else's carry-on bag.)

I've got an idea on how to handle those passengers who decide that they really need to make sure their bags are evacuated safely, and who prioritize those bags over the safety of others:

Have the attendants announce that those who want to retrieve their bags should stay seated (squinching their legs up to allow others in their row to depart) while those passengers willing to leave theirs behind get to exit the plane first. Then and only then can they grab their bags. 

Sounds fair, and absolutely works for me! (I'll be the one blissfully exiting with my phone, ID, and credit card hanging around my neck in a little pouch.)