Why do you assume a low-margin high-risk industry implements “stupid policies” just to bother you and steal your laptop?
The goal during an evacuation is to get every one off in 90seconds or less, since it’s possible there’s a fire, which has the potential to become extremely dangerous very quickly. Consider how long it takes to board a plane with luggage.
We’re all really quick to assume this is simply bureaucrats inventing rules to annoy us.
I feel like you are taking the worst possible interpretation of the parent comment.
No the airline/FAA won't steal your stuff, that's not the concern. The problem is whatever you leave on the plane will remain there until the end of the investigation, which means that you can basically write all of it off for a month. Have the rule say that the airline will be on the hook to return all belongings within 48 hours and people would likely be much more comfortable leaving their things on the place.
It's not rational to try and save "things" in an emergency situation, but neither is a company/FAA just shrugging and saying "you'll get your belongings when you'll get your belongings".
And it’s not always just laptops. It can be ID documents. Picture a college student on a trip. Maybe with couple friends. Involved in an accident, but off to the lawn safely, following all instructions.
Now their driver’s licenses and their credit cards are all in handbags around seat 34A/B. They won’t be able to rent a car, make calls, or even prove their lawful entry to the soil they’re on.
I almost always have my wallet and a phone in trousers and/or jacket pockets anyway, so this is likely never be a problem for me, but not everyone even has a pocket on their clothings.
Or if you and your partner are traveling together, you might lose your only set of house keys that way. I can't imagine getting home after a traumatic experience only to have to effectively break into your own house and then have new keys made or the locks rekeyed because you can't wait for the FAA to give you the backpack the keys were in.
OP is saying that the policy of the luggage being held by the FAA is stupid, not that preventing people from taking their luggage in an emergency is stupid. The emergency is over: the plane landed. Everyone got off the plane. Give them back their luggage.
He’s saying that because of policies like those (the FAA holding the plane), people are going to want to take their bags in an emergency situation.
And the policy certainly is stupid, as its second-order effects increase the risk that most of the passengers will die in the explosive fireball-like conflagration that could quickly follow a fire during evacuation.
I remember a fire at a hotel I was staying at in the 80s. The stairwell was completely packed with people who had every single piece of luggage with them.
The goal during an evacuation is to get every one off in 90seconds or less, since it’s possible there’s a fire, which has the potential to become extremely dangerous very quickly. Consider how long it takes to board a plane with luggage.
We’re all really quick to assume this is simply bureaucrats inventing rules to annoy us.