Disembarkation
Passengers leaving the aircraft after arrival — followed by the crew's cabin sweep, and, on a turnaround, the next boarding.
Definition
Disembarkation is the phase after the aircraft parks and the doors are disarmed and opened, during which passengers leave the cabin. In the United States it is called deplaning. Crew stand at their positions to say goodbye, then walk the cabin checking for left items, sleeping passengers, damage and anything security-relevant before the cleaners or the next passengers come aboard.
What it means for you
Disembarkation is when the pressure eases and the mistakes happen: a door opened before it is disarmed, a passenger left asleep in row 30, a lost phone that becomes a complaint. On a short-haul turnaround you have perhaps twenty-five minutes between the last passenger off and the first on, so the post-flight checks are a rehearsed sequence rather than a wander.
In practice
At a Wizz Air turnaround in Budapest the crew have the cabin cleared, checked and ready for the next boarding inside a 25-minute ground time, with no cleaners scheduled.
Related terms
4 terms- BoardingFlight operationsThe period from the first passenger stepping aboard until the door closes — the busiest and, historically, least paid part of the job.
- TurnaroundRoster & schedulingThe ground time between an aircraft's arrival and its next departure, and by extension a duty that goes out and comes straight back.
- Cabin checkSafety & trainingThe crew's inspections of the cabin: equipment and security before boarding, walk-throughs in flight, a sweep after landing.
- Door armingSafety & trainingSetting a cabin door so the escape slide deploys automatically when it is opened — done before push-back, undone after arrival.