Unspoken airplane rules part 2
A couple weeks ago I posted a blog about the unspoken rules of flying. You can check it out here or read the previous rules below. As these past few weeks have gone by, I’ve heard from fellow travelers, friends, students and even my own family more rules that need to be included in the list.
- The seat in front of you is not yours. If someone is sitting in front of you, don’t use the seat back in front of you as a lever to hoist yourself up. Airplane seats are made to adjust forwards and backwards so they have some give to them. If you put all your body weight onto the seat in front of you, it’s going to make it uncomfortable for the person sitting in that seat.
- Familiarize yourself with what drinks and food the airline offers. They have menus in their magazines and in the seat back pocket - READ THEM! On a short flight there’s nothing more annoying that a traveler asking a flight attendant to run down the list of drinks they offer.
- On a full flight, chances are you have someone sitting next to you in your row. If they ask to get up, get up out of your seat and let them by. Don’t ask them to step over you! This also applies when someone asks to sit next to you. Don’t just scoot your knees to the side and expect them to crawl on top of you to get to the seat. Talk about awkward. Jeez. I’ve had people do this to me. I warn them, “You’re probably going to want to move. I might crush you.” - This usually encourages them to move.
- Rocking out, playing air guitar, or singing is something you do at your house, not on an airplane. On a flight today, my sister had some guy singing out loud next to her. This is not cool. Some people want to sleep. Some people want to read. And some people don’t want to be bothered. Do that stuff in the privacy of your own home.
The bullet points below are the rules previously listed on my earlier blog.
- If the middle seat is unoccupied, that space is to be split between those occupying the seats next to it. If you’re in the window seat and someone is occupying the aisle seat (or vice versa), you do have the right to place some of your personal items on the middle seat. Be sure it only covers half - after all, that empty seat space is supposed to be split. When it comes time to get your drink - ask the person next to you if it’s okay if you use the middle seat’s tray table. 99% of the time they’ll say yes, but it’s just courteous to ask.
- On a similar note - the middle seat - if all seats are occupied and someone is sitting in the middle seat, make it comfortable for them. After all, they are going to be the most uncomfortable out of the three of you in that row. What do I mean by this? Well, I’ve been on flights where guys refused to close their legs (even just a little) so their knees were in my leg space. Talk about uncomfortable. I’ve also been on flights where the person next to me continued to elbow me on my side (whether it was on purpose or an accident, I’m not sure) because they insisted on taking up the entire arm rest. It is constantly being debated who has the rights to the shared arm rests - however I have to believe that those arm rests belong to the person in the middle seat. Both the person and the window seat have arm rests that they don’t have to share with anyone else.
- When it comes to putting your seat back - do it slowly. This has now happened to me twice and every time it happens I just want to kick the seat back of the jerk in front of me. So what do they do? As soon as they can they SLAM their seat back as hard as possible, almost crushing my laptop. The nice thing to do is to slowly put your seat back, so if the person behind you does have a laptop they have time to move it before it gets smashed.
- Screaming/crying babies are never a delight on a plane. However we have to remind ourselves that the parent is not the one responsible for their child’s screaming/crying. There really is no need to turn around and give them the evil eye. The parents are probably already embarrassed and are doing all they can to quiet their child. In fact, you probably should’ve brought those noise canceling headphones in the first place.
- Please & Thank you! On Southwest Airlines your sodas and snacks are free and are given out on every flight. Just because you’re not asking for a special request doesn’t mean you shouldn’t thank your flight attendant for giving you the drink or snack.
Am I missing any rules? Do you have any rules that need to be added to this list?
