These Are Your Airline Etiquette Pet Peeves

Complaining. You get reliable, affordable access to 90% the speed of sound at 7 miles up in relative comfort with safety greater than almost any other form of transit. You can circumnavigate the world in less than a day with your credit card. Don’t like small seats? You can pay for bigger ones. Don’t like babies crying? Maybe try and remember that even if you don’t want kids, people had to deal with your shit as a baby. Grow some empathy. Also, just put your damn airpods in. Don’t like crowded airports and security theater? Did you know you could charter a plane and bypass almost all of that? Of course it’s expensive, what you thought “The golden age” of flight with all its luxury and romance was priced for everyone? Have people forgotten the miracle that is flight?!

Almost all the things people complain about with air travel can be solved by simply paying for the privilege. The trouble isn’t that air travel sucks, the problem is people that think that exceptionally affordable air travel should be compromise free.

As a note: I fly the cheap stuff because I still think flying is magical, even with babies and bare feet.

I have a friend who is 6'5", built like a bear and mostly leg. Sitting in a regular seat is beyond uncomfortable for him. So you know what he does? He makes sure to reserve a seat with extra legroom. Although, I do think it’s fair to complain that airlines keep making seats smaller and less comfortable for even an average person.

Suggested by: HammerheadFistpunch

There are so many, I’ll just list off a few that pop into my head:

1) People who aren’t trying to make a tight connection but still force their way up the aisle instead of waiting until everyone in front of them has been able to grab their bags and start deplaning.

2) People who passive aggressively (or overtly) make comments about a young child or baby that’s making too much noise or crying or kicking their seat a bit. As a newer parent myself, I can guarantee you most parents are already mortified and incredibly stressed in this situation and are doing their best. You’re not helping.

3) It’s been said but needs to be said again - bare feet are disgusting and have no place in a public setting, let alone a close quarters public setting, other than maybe at a pool or water park.

4) Everyone who refuses to gate check their bags, even when they’re in later boarding groups and the staff have made it clear there won’t be enough overhead bin space. These people then often end up putting their bags in bins that are BEHIND where their seats are, creating even more of a bottleneck when deplaning since they either have to squeeze their way back to retrieve their bag or impose upon other stressed, anxious people to retrieve their bag for them.

If there’s one thing I love, it’s a good list. Especially a list that reiterates my point that bare feet on airplanes are disgusting. But also, let the people with tight connections get off first. Everybody wants to get off the plane. You’re not that special.

Suggested by: daftskunk

People who don’t use the overhead storage over or near their seat for their bags. I’ve watched people sitting in the back of the plane put their bags in the bins in the front of the plane. You’re just making it difficult for everyone.

It’s not just rude. It also makes it harder for you, the person sitting further back, to get off the plane. That person whose spot you took further up on the plane now has to put theirs further back, which slows everyone down once the plane lands, and they have to fight their way back to get their bag.

Suggested by: Mehphisto

People who put their small carryons in the overhead bin. There are two categories of this: the people that only have a small carryon and put it in the overhead rather than under the seat in front of them; and the people that put both their roll aboard AND their “small personal item” in the overhead space. In my opinion, both circumstances are incredibly rude. Yes, people try to bring too much crap on the plane. I can’t blame them. Between outrageous checked baggage fees, lost bags, and delayed or canceled flights, it’s no wonder that everyone wants to keep their stuff with them. Clogging up the overhead space with small items that could fit in the under-the-seat space is inconsiderate to everyone else on the plane, especially those that end up having to gate check their bags as a result.

Personally, I’d argue the rule to follow here is similar to winter coats. Let everybody get on the plane first so you make sure everyone has room for their carryons. Once that’s taken care of, if there’s still space above your seat feel free to put your personal item up there.

Suggested by: abcs

My airline etiquette pet peeve: the people that walk by and give you an exceedingly dirty look because you have a crying baby/child.

Look, I get it, babies on a plane is less than ideal. As a parent, you know this and you try to minimize the problem as much as possible. But sometimes, flying is the only way to get there.

And you with the dirty looks? do you think I don’t know that my child is crying? Really? do you think that your dirty looks or snide comments are making things better? Do you think that I’m going to snap the baby’s neck like the last episode of M.A.S.H. for you?

If there’s a crying baby, trust me, no one knows that more than the parents with that baby. And they’re doing everything they can. If they could make it stop they would. But, well, sometimes babies cry. Deal with it. We’re doing the best we can.

We already touched on this with daftskunk’s comment, but it bears repeating. Sometimes children cry. No parent is happy their child is crying. They’re doing their best to get them to quiet down. It’s not the end of the world. Just turn up the volume on your headphones.

Suggested by: Buckfiddiousagain

a: My arm rest is not your foot rest.

b: Long hair flipped over the top of the seat and obscuring my display (if there is one). Bonus points if the hair is long enough to reach my tray, but that’s rare.

c: Listening to music on your phone without headphones. Like seriously, the plane is loud enough as it is. I don’t need you blasting your favorite artist at full volume.

d: Spending the entire damn flight talking to me while I’m either obviously not helping carry the conversation or trying to read a book. On my last flight I seriously had a guy acknowledge I was reading a book and then continue on talking to me.

e: Reclined seats, but with the caveat that I blame the airlines for making the ergonomics so terrible that this is even a problem. For me a reclined seat means my tray can’t be deployed because my knees will hold it up (if my knees aren’t already eating the tray hinges) and if there’s any in-seat entertainment it gets put so below my eyeline that I have to hunch and crane my neck to see anything. At 6'4" flying is pretty well miserable for me.

Another solid list. Even if you leave your shoes on, no one wants someone else’s shoved through the gap between the seats. Keep your toes to yourself, but also keep your feet to yourself. Also, while we’re at it, keep your hair to yourself, too.

Suggested by: Maxzillian

Don’t crowd the baggage claim carousel! I know you’re eager to get your luggage - we all are. But crowding the carousel only makes it harder for the rest of us to spot our bag, only to have to push and shove our way through to actually get it.

I wish airports had a clear line around the carousel to suggest that people stay back a few feet (sort of like the lines you see at subway and train stations). I found a picture of something similar at Oakland’s airport. I’m not sure if the different color of flooring is designed to suggest people stay back, but I hope it is!

Again, we’re all in this together. It takes a while for bags to get to baggage claim. The world isn’t going to end if you don’t grab your bag the second it rolls off the conveyor belt. Heck, if you’re not driving, it can be nice to grab a drink and relax for a minute before you even head to baggage claim. Depending on how long it takes for the baggage to get there, you might still beat your bag to the carousel.

Suggested by: Drew Olson

Drunkards - shut the hell up and stay in your seat. You don’t have a right to alcohol service. Stop yelling at everyone, and don’t abuse the flight attendants. You can sober up a TINY bit in the last hour of a flight. Plus they’re out of alcohol. You drank it all. They can only carry so much. You can have coffee. No, not Irish coffee you moron.

The guy in front of me on a recent flight got so drunk that he could barely get up to use the bathroom. Although to be fair to the flight attendants, he was already drunk when he got on the plane. I know that because he was doing shots at the bar I was sitting at before we boarded. I love to have a few when I’m flying, but shots? At the airport? Come on.

Suggested by: BrianMadigan

I may get a beating for this, but people who can’t tolerate when the seat in front of them reclines. Passengers have a right to recline their seats.

This is not a popular opinion, but it does make a point. The airline is OK with you reclining your seat because, well, they made sure most of the seats came with the ability to recline.

Suggested by: Kidney Grille

Don’t recline your seat during food service. I don’t need to have your headrest hovering impeding the consumption of my nondescript food. Once food services are over and its time for our sketchy nap, recline away.

Did you hear that, Kidney Grille? We’ve got a reason for you to stop reclining for a short period of time, and honestly, I’d say it’s a fair request. Not that food service is really a thing anymore outside of first and business class.

Suggested by: Monsterajr

Just don’t recline... that’s all I ask.

Understandably, this is a common belief and a hill that a lot of flyers will die on. It’s also the one that people fight about the most. Especially if the anti-recline person has longer legs. So please, fight it out in the comments. Maybe even come up with a nuanced guide for when and how to recline your seat.

Suggested by: SlickS30r

The people who complain when I take my shoes and socks off.

In the immortal words of Dolly Fartin’, “Find god, heathen.”

Suggested by: nic