FLIGHT ETIQUETTES – STOP MISBEHAVING WHILE TRAVELLING

Do you intend to take a flight any time soon? I’ll be travelling soon and I’m absolutely dreading the thought of it. Imagine a rock concert – Thousands of people packed together in a closed arena dancing to the blaring music. I feel the same when I’m travelling by air. Roughly a hundred people sitting in close proximity to each other, with the same destination; yet, during the travel, they have nowhere else to go. If the claustrophobic environment was not enough, you have people who put on quite a show while travelling. Yes, I’m talking about the misbehaving passengers. Are you one of them? Find out below in these 10 tips.

1. If it is a long journey, please carry some anti-snoring strips to reduce your snoring noise. It is embarrassing as well as disturbing for anyone else who’s trying to sleep.

2. Something that I absolutely loathe – babies crying on top of their voice while mothers are ‘trying’ to pacify them. This is even more irritating on a plane because you have nowhere to go except the lavatory – another place I don’t like because it’s too small and makes me claustrophobic. New mothers, I understand that your babies are new to the environment and might be feeling uneasy because of all the air pressure, but please, do the needful (change their diapers, feed them, make them sleep or whatever you deem necessary) and make them stop. Babies are only cute and adorable when they are sleeping or smiling, not when they are crying.

3. Recline your chair after making sure it is not a problem for the passenger behind you. For a little bit of ease for yourself, you might end up making your fellow passenger rather uncomfortable for the rest of the journey. I have long legs and usually, I’m barely able to squeeze my legs in the assigned seat. It becomes even more difficult when the passenger seated in front of me decides to recline their chair.

Another hazard of reclining your chair might be the food that the passenger behind you is having. A sudden jolt to recline your chair might spill the hot coffee and the passenger might end up in quite a bit of pain. Be careful.

4. If you are sitting on a window seat and the passenger sitting next to you wants the window to be closed, please oblige. Agreed that you are way too excited to look at the clouds and the wings of the aircraft, but trust me, there’s nothing special. They person sitting next to you might be trying to catch some sleep or might even have some skin allergy.

5. Again, if you’re at the window seat, climbing over your fellow passenger is not cool. In fact, it’s disgusting and unsafe. Politely ask the person with the aisle seat to move, so that you can get up.

6. Alternatively, if you have the aisle seat, don’t be grumpy to let passengers out. Swap seats if you think the other passengers will be moving about frequently.

7. Don’t embarrass yourself and the others by opening your own food during the flight. Indians are the undisputed champions at this and to top it all, they’ll eventually end up spilling a drop or two of their oil soaked food on you.

8. Don’t be in a tussle with the passenger sitting next to you over the armrest. Take turns or simply surrender it if the person is old, bigger than you, or a beautiful girl (10000 chivalry points for the last one).

9. Use the minimum amount of space in the overhead cabinet while storing your cabin baggage. It is not fair to the other passengers who probably paid a little extra to carry more stuff.

10. Listen to what the airhostess or stewards are saying. It is rather disrespectful to ignore them when they are giving some instructions. How would you feel if you are giving a lecture/seminar and the audience is not even looking at you because you happen to be boring? Most of the airhostesses are quite pretty, so at least look at them and pretend to be listening (another 10000 chivalry points for paying attention to the airhostesses) when they pass over some instructions.

If you happen to travel with me, I don’t expect you to be at your best behavior, but with a little bit of courtesy and basic manners, you’ll find yourself in my good books.

We wish you a pleasant stay and a happy journey *speakers beep and the aircraft begins taxing to the runway*.

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