OT: Flight etiquette

[SirBarksalot]

Water? I caught a lap of red wine at the start of a transatlantic flight once.
really my fault, as it was the stupidest design ever. It was on an Air France 747. And they had flip down cup holders built into the seat. I had a cup of wine in one, chick in front of me decided to Unrecline at full speed.
That pisses me off. If you’re unreclining, do it slowly please.

 

[BlueRidgeMtns]

Recline the damn seat. You could easily have a 350lb dude sitting next to you or, heaven help you, be in the middle seat between two people that won't shut up.

 

[dawgman42]

You said it. Keep chiving on.

 

[Captain Ron]

All I know is we are going to have a lot of topics for the cover of this weeks magazine.....

 

[RocketDawg]

The airlines have minimized the seat pitch ... space between rows. Travelers just have to live with it. I think there are one or two airlines that have removed the reclining feature on their planes for that very reason.

 

[Dawg1979]

i'm reclining. and i'm napping more comfortably while your fuming over me doing what the seat was meant to do. make me more comfortable. i would suggest taking a train. lots of room and a bar to talk to a bartender about your frustrations. Bartenders love that

 

[bulldogcountry1]

Everything about flying coach is unpleasant. I dread having to fly more than a couple hours. At any given moment, there's a dozen people on the plane who no consideration for anyone else on the planet. The person in front of me who wants to recline their seat back 2 degrees and try to quietly make it through the experience is the least of my problems.

 

[Crazy Cotton]

I'm using the replies here for teaching about Kohlberg' stages of moral development to my psych 101 class. Some of you are apparently 9 year olds playing on momma's computer.

 

[ababyatemydingo]

The water I don’t care about. Maybe I gave too much detail. It goes back to the original thing I was trying to bring up....is reclining your chair on an airline a douche or acceptable move? The water was just a side effect of it.

I'm 6'6". If I'm on a flight and can't get a bulkhead, exit row, or business class seat, you better be ready for me to recline at the first available moment.

 

[ckDOG]

More...

This isn't even top five on my annoying things people do on planes or at the airport. Those five are:
1. Forgetting the 17ing alphabet when taking your seat. 23B is the middle seat between 23A and 23C. Why are you in 23E? GTFO of my seat.
2. Deciding you should bring a forty pound carry on and completely lacking the ability to lift it up and after landing get it down. Just pay the twenty five bucks and get out of the way.
3. Mr. I'm Gonna Bring Warm Homemade Nasty Smelling Breakfast Onto The Plane, this one is for you. Eat it before you leave the house or buy the overpriced Chick-fil-A biscuit at the airport.
4. Just because you're not in a hurry for your next flight doesn't mean others aren't also. Stand to the right on the escalator so those hurrying can get by you. There are some douches out there who decide to do the 17ing Captain Morgan pose on the escalator. Screw off. Next time I'm gonna make sure an orthopedist earns half a speed boat worth of money from doing ACL surgery on your left knee.
5. Making out (or more) on the plane. One time I gave up my aisle seat for a middle seat so a couple could sit together because I was feeling a little generous. They proceeded to suck face for a ninety minute flight (I took a middle seat one row behind my original seat). I'm not making that mistake again unless I'm trading my coach seat for first class.

6. Folks that cut you off deboarding. Just because I have an inside seat and didn't have the chance to immediately stand in the aisle (no, it doesn't make the door open any faster) - you don't get to cut me off when I'm getting up and getting my ****. Wait your turn like the rest, you ain't special. Unless you truly are tight in a connection - then just say - "got a tight connection" and we're all good.

7. Arguing with the attendant. They are right. You are wrong. STFU

8. Clipping nails (toes and fingers). Seen both. Who raised you, you gross bastard?

9. Silence your kid's electronics. Babies are babies - they cry. Kids fuss. I get it. What I can't stand though is juniors video game or whatever on blast without headphones. Get the rug rat some headphones or, at the minimum, turn the thing down so that only the kid can hear it.

10. If I expect 9 from a child I sure as hell expect it from an adult. The next time someone blasts music or candy crush from their cell phone I might just beat them with their seatbelt.

11. Don't watch porn. That's just awkward.

 

[thekimmer]

My top 5....

This isn't even top five on my annoying things people do on planes or at the airport. Those five are:
1. Forgetting the 17ing alphabet when taking your seat. 23B is the middle seat between 23A and 23C. Why are you in 23E? GTFO of my seat.
2. Deciding you should bring a forty pound carry on and completely lacking the ability to lift it up and after landing get it down. Just pay the twenty five bucks and get out of the way.
3. Mr. I'm Gonna Bring Warm Homemade Nasty Smelling Breakfast Onto The Plane, this one is for you. Eat it before you leave the house or buy the overpriced Chick-fil-A biscuit at the airport.
4. Just because you're not in a hurry for your next flight doesn't mean others aren't also. Stand to the right on the escalator so those hurrying can get by you. There are some douches out there who decide to do the 17ing Captain Morgan pose on the escalator. Screw off. Next time I'm gonna make sure an orthopedist earns half a speed boat worth of money from doing ACL surgery on your left knee.
5. Making out (or more) on the plane. One time I gave up my aisle seat for a middle seat so a couple could sit together because I was feeling a little generous. They proceeded to suck face for a ninety minute flight (I took a middle seat one row behind my original seat). I'm not making that mistake again unless I'm trading my coach seat for first class.

I agree the seat recliner isn't in the top 5. I don't like it but its hard to call it rude behavior when the seats are designed with that feature. I would modify your top 5 for my pet peeves.

1) Seat hog. The person who decides the arm rest is their sole property and constantly invades my space with knees, elbows, etc.
2) The BO dude and I don't mean Mr. Jackson. Take a shower and use deodorant please! Also keep your shoes on.
3) I agree with the food offender.
4) Overhead bin hog. Put 2+ carryons and coat in overhead usually with little to no attempt to conserve space.
5) The out of control kid. I understand babies are going to cry. I hate it but understand it. Its the 3-5 year old that parents are oblivious to their obnoxious behavior .

 

[thekimmer]

Anybody use these things?...

Knee defender

 

[codeDawg]

As someone who travels most weeks, yeah, you’re all asses. While I realize your seat CAN recline, maybe you have not been on the receiving end of a seat in your face where you can even get a small laptop open to work.

You are tellling the person behind you that your small amount of comfort is worth making that person very uncomfortable. If that’s how you roll, you do you, but it’s being an ***.

 

[dawgman42]

A-freakin'-men. It's somewhat like left lane drivers that won't get over. They "can" do it, and there's nothing other than common courtesy and sense stopping them from barely going speed limit and clogging traffic, thereby creating potentially unsafe conditions, but in the end, they shouldn't.

 

[Swede39]

I agree the seat recliner isn't in the top 5. I don't like it but its hard to call it rude behavior when the seats are designed with that feature. I would modify your top 5 for my pet peeves.

1) Seat hog. The person who decides the arm rest is their sole property and constantly invades my space with knees, elbows, etc.
2) The BO dude and I don't mean Mr. Jackson. Take a shower and use deodorant please! Also keep your shoes on.
3) I agree with the food offender.
4) Overhead bin hog. Put 2+ carryons and coat in overhead usually with little to no attempt to conserve space.
5) The out of control kid. I understand babies are going to cry. I hate it but understand it. Its the 3-5 year old that parents are oblivious to their obnoxious behavior .

1) The guy behind you that uses the back of your seat as a handle to stand up. Upon release, pinball ensues with your head as the pinball.
2) The idiot that stands right in front of traffic trying to figure out what gate their connection is.
3) The overweight guy that takes it upon himself to lift up the armrest I put down so that they can fit. Negative. I paid good money for my 20 inch air coffin.
4) There's always that one flight attendant that's in a bad mood.
5) The aisle seaters that hold the window seaters hostage upon deboarding because they're not in a hurry.

Honorable mentions-
-The know-it-all that doesn't remove their shoes, belt, and metals of any kind, proceeds to try to go through security, and argues with the TSA because it wasn't like this 30 years ago. Pre-Check is a lifesaver with this.
-The one TSA agent at security that yells the same thing over and over again in a monotone fashion. Further stressing everyone else out.

 

[MagicDawg]

If someone behind me puts something on the seat I paid for specifically to reduce its functionality, I'll have the flight attendant remove it. If you can't live with the fact that people's seats recline, including your own, you don't need to be traveling on a commercial flight.

What I do despise regarding flight manners:
- People who pack enormous roll-aboards and actually try to roll them down aisles -- they generally do not roll effectively.
- People who carry their backpacks on their backs down the aisle, turn this way and that while talking, and whack passengers in the face. Take your backpack off and carry it in front of you down the aisle.
- People who bring aboard bags they cannot lift by themselves. I will not always be there to keep you from dropping your suitcase on a passenger. If you can't lift it, check it.
- People who use the back of my seat as an aid for getting into and out of their own seat. You have an armrest and you have the back of your own seat to push on. Use those.

There's more. I could write a book of the legitimate gripes I have about "entitled" people on planes! We all have to get where we're going, folks!

 

[GloryDawg]

I fly a good bit and I don't understand the reclining of the seat. I don't do it thinking of the person behind me. I have had folks in front of me do it and I make their life miserable by constantly bumping their seats with my knees. Sometimes I will pull on the head rest acting like I am moving. They will look at me and then see how big I am and then forget about it. I up grade when I can and I usually get lucky and get one of the red neck first class.

 

[rem101]

I'm more annoyed by the people in the very back who stand up as soon as the plane stops. You're not going anywhere for 5-10 min. If you want off the plane sooner, buy a seat closer to the front. Stop hovering over me and swinging your backpack around while trying to get your carry on from up top.

And I don't buy the "they're cramped up from the flight and need to stretch" argument - Gulfport to Atlanta is only about 45 min in the air.

 

[horshack.sixpack]

On a flight today (about 90 minutes in length). Stewardess had just given me an ice water which I sat on the tray in front of me. No sooner than I get it, the fine individual in front of me decides to recline his seat back and the tray then bumps into my lap and sends the water sailing to the floor.

Settle the debate in my mind. Is the guy an ******* anyway for reclining his seat? Is a 90 minute flight worth getting comfortable when it might make someone else uncomfortable? I purposely avoid reclining my chair and lean opposite directions of people to give them space in what is already a cramped area. Never understood some people's lack of self awareness in public transit like this...

The slight departure from completely upright makes flights bearable. They don't recline enough to bother me when the person in front of me does it, but they do recline enough to make my flight a little less uncomfortable. I'm in the go ahead and recline crowd.

 

[thekimmer]

A-freakin'-men. It's somewhat like left lane drivers that won't get over. They "can" do it, and there's nothing other than common courtesy and sense stopping them from barely going speed limit and clogging traffic, thereby creating potentially unsafe conditions, but in the end, they shouldn't.

Actually that is not true. Many states have left-lane laws. Admittedly they can be difficult to enforce but the point is in many states there is something more than common courtesy as it is illegal to impede traffic in the left lane. In GA it is illegal even if you are exceeding the speed limit.

 

[Faustdog]

This thread is a great example of the moral decline of our society. Just because you can recline your seat and make the person behind you extremely uncomfortable doesn't mean you should do so. "The seat reclines so I'm going to do it." This is a level of both dumbness and rudeness that should be shocking but isn't given the current state of our society.

Thankfully, as Rocketdog said, airlines are starting to disable the reclining function. If you can't handle sitting up straight for a 60-120 minute flight, which with connections covers the large majority, that's a you issue and shouldn't mean the person behind you has to fly with his knees jammed into the back of your seat.

 

[MedDawg]

If someone behind me puts something on the seat I paid for specifically to reduce its functionality, I'll have the flight attendant remove it. If you can't live with the fact that people's seats recline, including your own, you don't need to be traveling on a commercial flight.

What I do despise regarding flight manners:
- People who pack enormous roll-aboards and actually try to roll them down aisles -- they generally do not roll effectively.
- People who carry their backpacks on their backs down the aisle, turn this way and that while talking, and whack passengers in the face. Take your backpack off and carry it in front of you down the aisle.
- People who bring aboard bags they cannot lift by themselves. I will not always be there to keep you from dropping your suitcase on a passenger. If you can't lift it, check it.
- People who use the back of my seat as an aid for getting into and out of their own seat. You have an armrest and you have the back of your own seat to push on. Use those.

There's more. I could write a book of the legitimate gripes I have about "entitled" people on planes! We all have to get where we're going, folks!

Agree. When walking in the aisle I carry my backpack or roller unless my roller is rolling well sideways. I haven't noticed if I use the headrest ahead of me to get up, but I certainly wouldn't pull back or let it snap forward if someone was sitting down in front of me.

The person reclining in front of me doesn't bother me. I often don't recline, but sometimes do. I reserve the right to recline.

I would never put up the armrest if there was a stranger next to me, nor would I want them to.

When the plane stops, people shouldn't go down the aisle before the people in rows ahead of them unless they are still sitting and letting others go first. However, I don't agree with people complaining about those who stand up as soon as the bell goes off. I often will stand up as soon as the bell goes off. Not to hurry past anyone, but just to finally be able to stretch my legs. I don't usually go for my carryon until it's closer to my turn to walk down the aisle. If it's right above my seat, I might pull it down and put it in my empty seat.

 

[randystewart]

AMEN! I fly every other week or so, and leaning back in coach is the biggest dick move of all time. If you lean back in my lap, you are getting the full blast of my air vent aimed straight at your head.

 

[fishwater99]

Amen to that. I’m 6’6 and flying coach sucks now.

I always knew you could Dunk !!!

 

[gptdawg]

This!

 

[maroonmadman]

On any flight of 2 hours or less, don't recline. Over that and do whatever you have to do to survive. The wife and I flew out to Hawai'i not long ago. 8 hours cooped up in a thin aluminum tube is uncomfortable as hell ANYWHERE in economy class. I understand the airlines need to cram as many bodies on a plane as possible to make a profit but geezus loosing one row in economy so we could have a humane amount of legroom would be nice.

 

[DAWG61]

What airlines are you guys flying on where seats recline all the way back into people's knees? I am 6'3 and a fully upright seat compared to a fully declined one is like centimeters in difference for my knee leg room. It actually gives my legs slightly more room to stretch out underneath a reclined seat compared to a fully upright one. Of all the things to be frustrated about on a plane this shouldn't be at the top of the list. How about having to pay for a microscopic pillow or pay for luggage or pay for wifi. 17ing ticket cost $600 and they can't let you have free wifi during a flight? What.

 

[onewoof]

If any of you recline with someone tall behind you, you're going straight to hell. The Bible says so.

 

[MeridianDog]

Yes - I hate everything about air travel too. My gripe is the people who sleep with their goat the night before taking a flight and then don't bath the morning of the flight. Jees - some folks really stink. Do they not know?

 

[MeridianDog]

Not directed at you onewoof, just no where decent to put this.

Do you guys know if the seat holder in front of you reclines - you can ram your knees into the soft part of their seat - where your in flight magazine or barf bag is stored and make their back miserable for the entire flight? Works every time.

Upside/downside is your actions might also start a nifty inflight fight that makes CBS news tomorrow when the air marshals come onboard and arrest both of you when the plane lands, but....

 

[Go Budaw]

This thread is a great example of the moral decline of our society

No, it just shows how our society can polarize any issue, even as something as dumb as reclining your seat on a plane.

”Anyone who reclines their seat is an *******!”

”It’s a feature on the plane and I’ll do it under all circumstances!”

It’s not that black and white. How about this, just act like a civilized 17ing human being and have a 5 second interaction with another civilized human being. Turn around and politely ask the person behind you if they mind if you recline your seat, and acquiesce to whatever they say one way or the other. Not that hard. I do that every time I’m traveling in a car and need to adjust the seat when someone is sitting behind me. A plane is no different. Just practice basic common courtesy.

 

[JML105]

^ This guy gets it.

 

[LandArchDawg]

Never recline your seat in a plane in coach, especially on short flights. The same situation you face could be worse if someone just cracked open a work laptop on the tray table.

 

[dogmatic]

The fact this is even a question we're asking ourselves marks a success for the airline industry. Somehow it's now our fault their product creates an experience so ****** we're forced to work out ways to deal with it ourselves.

FWIW, I fly maybe 10 times a year and I effectively never recline my seat, partly because my knees touch the back of the seat in front of me and I'm self conscious about making the folks behind me even more uncomfortable than I am, and partly because I've tried it and the seat doesn't go far enough back to make me more comfortable anyway. Maybe if reclining actually helped me, I'd be more apt to do it.

I reclined my seat on an overnight, transatlantic flight recently, but only after giving the folks behind me a heads-up I was about to do so.

 

[ezsoil]

Not directed at you onewoof, just no where decent to put this.

Do you guys know if the seat holder in front of you reclines - you can ram your knees into the soft part of their seat - where your in flight magazine or barf bag is stored and make their back miserable for the entire flight? Works every time.

Upside/downside is your actions might also start a nifty inflight fight that makes CBS news tomorrow when the air marshals come onboard and arrest both of you when the plane lands, but....

^^^^^ This

I used to do this until I bought this gizmo

http://www.gadgetduck.com/goods/kneedefender.html?s

but sometimes the flight attendant asks me not to use them and I go back to the tried and true aforementioned process.

 

[Bcash2]

I'm not sure I follow. You don't like it if someone reclines on a short flight, because for that short flight it will make you uncomfortable. However, you're ok with someone reclining on a longer fight, meaning YOU will supposedly now be uncomfortable for a period of time? I don't understand this logic. On flights over 2 hours, do you ask the person in front of you not to recline for the first 2 hours, then at the 121st minute inform them that they are now free to recline? So many questions.

 

[onewoof]

I have this kneedefender gadget as well. The delight of seeing someone not be able to recline.

Almost as good as an ole miss loss.

 

[Apoplectic_Objurgator]

As a million miler

1. If your seat reclines then expect it to be reclined - I always do it slow but some ******** will ram it back

2. Never trust put anything on the tray - don’t touch the tray

3. Just because they’re serving it doesn’t mean you have to take it

4. Only drink from a bottle with a cap

5. Get upgraded

 

[Faustdog]

No, it just shows how our society can polarize any issue, even as something as dumb as reclining your seat on a plane.

”Anyone who reclines their seat is an *******!”

”It’s a feature on the plane and I’ll do it under all circumstances!”

It’s not that black and white. How about this, just act like a civilized 17ing human being and have a 5 second interaction with another civilized human being. Turn around and politely ask the person behind you if they mind if you recline your seat, and acquiesce to whatever they say one way or the other. Not that hard. I do that every time I’m traveling in a car and need to adjust the seat when someone is sitting behind me. A plane is no different. Just practice basic common courtesy.

Nope. It’s the moral decline of our society.

 

[msu]

Saw this article and thought about this old thread. So resurrection initiated.

https://nypost.com/2019/04/12/delta-to-restrict-seat-recline-making-flying-even-worse/