darrenmorris - can I make a suggestion?
The next time you experience this sort of thing, the best thing is to ask the pilots of your aircraft. When you are disembarking, if you ask a member of the cabin crew really politely whether you can speak to the pilots, they will probably say yes. You can then ask your question directly and you will get your answer. It really is a better course of action than coming on an anonymous forum later and asking a vague question which no one, not even a professional, can answer with any degree of accuracy given that they weren't there.