Photo: Donna81

Written by Maak

It’s a well known behavioral trait, that overcrowding breeds stress. When people are cramped together in confined spaces, small things can be blown out of proportion and cause major irritation for others occupying the same space.

As low-cost flying becomes the norm, travelling is easily within the reaches of almost everybody, flights are generally pretty full, and given the stress factor of flying - beyond being in a confined space, there is the whole airport and security experience nowadays – people have short fuses and easily get annoyed at their fellow passengers. I am sure that everybody who travels fairly regularly, has, at some time, been irritated at a fellow passenger or flight attendant.

But how rude are our fellow travellers - and I know it isn’t you, but all the other travellers that are rude.

Online travel provider Travelocity (owner of Lastminute.com in Europe), recently surveyed over 16,000 North American travellers to establish what annoyed passengers most of all when travelling. You can see the whole poll and its conclusions here.

Based on the feedback from the Travelocity's surver, and my own personal experiences I have selected 7 general rules when flying, where just a little courtesy can go a long way to making everybody’s trip a little more enjoyable.

1. The overhead locker

Make sure your luggage fits into the overhead and can sit under the seat in front of you and store it considerately and close to where you are sitting.

29% of respondents complained about passengers bringing oversized baggage onto the flight and then trying to stuff it into the overhead bin, often with little or no respect for other baggage already up there. This is then aggravated when you try and find somewhere for your regular piece of hand baggage there’s no room left!

Another overhead related irritation, is the careless storage of luggage. Collect your hand luggage and place them together and if possible on top of each other in the bin, leaving room for others to store things, without having first to move your items.

Then there are the passengers that store their luggage at the front of the plane, and sit further back. Later when the plane lands, this is often then used as an excuse to move forward whilst everybody is waiting to disembark (see point 3).

2. Let me get on first

If you want to get on the plane first, stand in line, and don’t jump the queue.

We’ve all experienced it, somebody jumping the queue to board; coming in from an angle to get on the plane earlier. Over 21% of participants complained about this. Why do people jump the queue to get on first - unless it’s to make sure there’s room for their oversized baggage? We all take off at the same time and I’d prefer to be on the plane as short a time as possible.

3. Let me get off first

If you have a tight connection, speak to flight attendants, if they agree and there is room, they will try and move you forward, and the people around you will hear and be understanding. Otherwise, just wait your turn and use your energy once you are off the flight where there usually is plenty of time to overtake fellow passengers.

We all want to get off, but there is always somebody who tries to push his or her way towards to the front of the plane, just to get off split seconds in advance of the rest of us. The normal excuses are having a connection to catch or that they have stored their luggage further forward (as if this was any excuse).

This has led to a new bread of passenger “the aggressive aisle stander” who doesn’t budge a centimetre as fellow passengers try a push past.

4. Kicking, grabbing and reclining the seat and the arm rest

Try to be as considerate of the person in front and behind you as at all possible. Never recline the seat during the meal and ask if the person behind you is using a laptop – so it doesn’t bang shut as you recline – or even fall off, which I saw on one flight. Don’t use the seat in front to pull yourself up, and try and control those legs so they aren’t stuck into the seat in front.

You have just napped off, and the passenger in the seat behind you decides to go to the washroom and grabs your seat as they get up. Then there is the child (or adult) repeatedly kicking your seat, something sixty percent of participants indicated as rude behaviour – in fact the highest number in the Travelocity poll.

Passengers who stand and rest against your seat whilst talking to somebody behind you, is another rude behaviour I often hear from travellers.

Reclining the seat is another hot topic, with over 30% of the people indicating that people who recline seats are annoying. I assume the main reason for this is the fact that there is already so little space, that people feel even more confined when the seat in front is reclined.

Finally, just because you are stuck in the middle seat, you don’t have the right to both armrests, as a kind of compensation. You are just going to have to try to work it out.

5. Personal hygiene

Take a shower before taking a flight, and if your feet smell, don’t take your shoes off.

Forty-five percent of respondents cited personal hygiene as an annoyance when flying. In my experience, smelly feet are the major issue, but over use of cologne or perfume, general lack of personal hygiene, and passengers that have eaten odorous food before taking a flight – or even worse, during the flight – are also issues passengers consider as problematic when flying.

6. Speaking loudly, bad language, arguing

Keep your personal conversations quiet and the subjects appropriate for everyone to hear and remember to bring things along to entertain your children.

The person next to you just isn’t interested in the problems you are currently having with your pet dog, or your boss – the rest of the plane aren’t either. Keep subjects appropriate and find out whether your seatmate is interested in conducting a conversation with you. Fifty-four percent of participants highlighted that speaking loudly and bad language was a problem when flying.

Other related pet peeves are out of control children and family arguments – flying is stressful, but sitting on the plane isn’t the time to make a big issue out the money your better half spent on duty free.

7. Do something nice, be helpful

Be courteous and respectful of other travellers, and the flight attendants. Friendly behavior is contagious, so hopefully they will return the favour.

Travelling used to be something to look forward to – perhaps even a bit romantic – OK I’m probably a bit older than most of the readers, and remember how proud I was and how envious everybody else was when I announced in school I was going to fly. Even though flying has become stressful, by doing something nice, being pleasant to your fellow passengers and respectful of the flight attendants, we might bring back the fun of flying.

If it goes wrong anyway, taking three deep breaths to calm yourself, always helps!