Travel is no longer special. Long ago, taking a trip to another country was considered something like a once-in-a-lifetime event. The exponential availability of travel for the ordinary person has produced larger aircraft, more airports, and an industry in constant need of keeping the cost of travel within an affordable range, which includes narrow seats, limited luggage, and charges for things once enjoyed by everyone. Large airports have become mini-cities with all kinds of shops, eateries, and accommodations for a burgeoning number of travelers. Navigating through the throngs of people on the security line, dragging in-flight luggage, too few bathrooms on the plane, seatbelts made for miniature people, and complications of multiple flight stops and visa entry points can be a nuisance. But I think that fellow travelers who don’t behave well are much more annoying, and this is my chance to rant about it.
Seat Pullers
You’re on a 15-hour flight to Hong Kong. Dinner has been served, lights are out, and most people enter into “flight coma” for the next ten hours—except the dude behind you who has to get up every hour or so. It would be okay if he would only get up on his own, but no—he has to pull himself up by yanking your seat in front of him. It continually wakes you up from the possibility of some solid sleep.
Non-stop Talkers
Traveling with a companion is comforting and conversation is part of that, but endless chatter at a volume that invites the immediate world to know the details of your life or gossip is much more than we want to know. And the screechy voice (though beyond the control of the talker), grates on nerves like fingernails scratching a blackboard. It gives noise-canceling headphones a serious consideration.
Personal Space Invaders
Personal space is a cultural issue. Americans tend to need more physical personal space than those in cultures where populations are at epic proportions. We get that and for the most part, compartmentalize the need for wide space. However, the ones who carry monumentally stuffed backpacks that bang into people as they maneuver narrow airplane aisles without any awareness that they are walking battering rams, are the ones who provoke eye-rolling. Would it kill someone to hand carry the backpack until they either stuff it into the overhead compartment or while getting off the plane?
Wheelchair Abusers
It’s not only a nice gesture but probably a legal requirement for airlines to accommodate people with physical challenges. It’s the right thing to do. Who doesn’t understand that! However, I find it amusing that the same seniors who just spent hours strolling through the airport suddenly have a need to be wheeled into the airplane in order to get seated first. I’ve seen up to 16 wheelchairs lined up at the gate. It’s the same ones who suddenly have the strength to race to the baggage claim area and toddle off with loads of luggage. It doesn’t seem fair to those who legitimately need the accommodation.
Unruly Children
Traveling with children is not easy—ever. Babies and toddlers cry and get cranky, especially during take-off and landing when air pressure affects ears. Just recently I was on a flight where a toddler had a booming voice like a football coach and he screamed for a half hour each way. As annoying as that is, you feel sympathy for the parent trying everything imaginable to quiet the child. Unruly older children, whose parents have abdicated all responsibility to control their little urchins, are the kids who pound or kick other people’s seats, run up and down the aisles, blast video games, or find it amusing to flip the table tray up and down. Even so, you can’t get mad at the kids. It’s their inconsiderate parents who plop themselves down and can’t imagine that their little darlings are riding everybody else’s last nerve. No Bueno!
And More
The list of obnoxious behaviors seems to get longer each time I fly, like people who put their feet (sometimes bare) all over the backs of the seats in front of them, or people who have no clue what good table manners look like. I remember one flight where upon leaving the aircraft, the flight attendants actually apologized to me for the chaos some of the passengers created near me. The good news is that the flight does end and once you get past the baggage claim and visa entry, you are off to your destination and the madness is behind you. Bon voyage!