Do you get off the plane when it stops to re-fuel?

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potatochip

You do not have to get off the plane just because it has stopped to re-fuel. I think it is nice to get up and walk around the airport a bit. When we flew from San Francisco with a stopover in Hong Kong before proceeding into Singapore, we all had to get off the aircraft, go through security and re-board. This would not be the case if it is a domestic flight within the United States.

averagebear

I did. They hand you a re-board pass as you exit the plane.

Penfold

In my experience, commercial airlines do not refuel mid air. they always land somewhere.

They normally allow about an hour for refuelling. When refuelling, they will always open the doors and ask passengers to unfasten seatbelts - this is done in case an emergency evacuation is required. Sometimes, you will be given the option of getting off but it depends on various factors - mainly length of time at the airport and the number of people on board because it can be difficult to get passengers back on board in time to take off.

coolfizz

Well if the stop is over 2 hours to refuel, yes you may get out of the plane if the FA allows and only walk around the airport terminal and the duty free.But if its a stop within 60 mins or less or so...they probably wont allow you to get down as then there will again be a chaos in boarding the airplane again
IMHO:- When i did DXB-BOM-HKG flight on Cathay Pacific last year, i could go and walk around the DIRTY MUMBAI AIRPORT OF mine and then boarded the B777 again to HKG.
But this dint happen when i went for Jet Airways BOM-SFO nonstop via HKG
The airplane went to a nearby remote stand and within an hour we took off again with fuel.
So it depends.
AND PS:- The commercial airplane don't refuel mid air and WILL NEVER DO THAT IN THE FUTURE Because the airline will have to spend money on the refuel tanker which will itself consume some fuel,so no point and no chance...!!

cheers....!!

David W

I believe that it depends on the local safety regulations. I have been on several plane as they re-fuelled. I've also been on one internal Russian flight where they took us off the plane and the bus carried us outside the airport onto the street. We had to check back in again before they took us back to the same plane. Not fun at 4 am and minus 16C. BTW, no civilian passenger plane re-fuels in mid air, only military.

Kui Jai

They used to allow you to stay on board. They might have changed the regulation. Nowadays I normally fly direct non-stop and it's more economical for the airline because the plane uses more fuel on taking off and landing as well as parking at the airport. But if there is a chance, I certainly would get off the plane to stretch myself and to browse round the shops.

mistymiss

We didn't when we came back from Cyprus and re-fuelled at Amsterdam

-NC- No.1 FLORIAN REUSCH FAN!

I did - but you just get out to the departure lounge which is good enough. You can have a stroll around the shops, buy something. Eat a snack have a pepsi. And in around 1 hour you'll be back on the plane.

Lobengula

The airplane can certainly have passengers on board while re-fueling. There is a protocol controlling this (doors must be open, no fasten seat belts).

So it would be depending on how long the stop is. It's not really useful to off-load passengers if the stop is 60 minutes. By the time the last passenger exits the plane, it's just minutes before boarding again.

While it would be neat to have the re-fuel in air this is as already said only for military planes.

Gabriel

Not usually but it depends how long they think they'll take to refuel.

As someone else pointed out, some planes can refuel in the air, they're all military aircraft. Unless you're flying via F-14 Tomcat, you'll be landing. There's also no issue with safety that would make you have to get off the plane.

Flup

I think you have to for safety reasons.

MAC

No you do not have to

iceman

Ussualy they require you to get off the plane.

But it really depends..

Sarah B

It depends becasue some planes can re-fuel in the air. So if that happens then of course then you will have to stay on the flight. Usually planes re-fuel before or after a flight unless it is a long flight. If it is a connecting flight that is getting re-fueled than you do have to get off the plane for safety reasons.

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