The 22 Most Annoying Things You Can Do On An Airplane
Based on the experiences of Mobal World Phone users...
1. Clipping Your Finger Nails
There is a time and place for everything. And clipping your finger nails on an airplane is neither the time or the place!
"The worst is people who clip their fingernails. It is a total lack of class and respect to have someone’s dirty and repulsive nail clippings flying around the seating area while you’re either trying to read or worse, eat something. This has happened 3 or 4 times over the last several years."
Kevin Mullen
2. Using The Headrest In Front To Help You Stand Up
I find this is normally a tactic of gentlemen of advancing years (and girth for that matter). Not only do they find it harder to stand in their condition, it seems to have effected their ability to appologise too!
"I hate it when I am sitting in my seat...usually trying to sleep and the person behind me decides to get up and grabs the back of my seat for support, letting go as they walk away turning my seat into a catapult ,,,whip lash city!"
Glen Ridnour
3. Reclining Your Chair
This has got to be the most popular airplane crime committed. From just experiencing a lack of space to getting your scolding hot coffee thrown into your groin -- we've all been on the receiving end of a reclining chair.
"...People who recline their seats with no regard for the people sitting behind them. I've had people bruise my knees, almost break my laptop (and render it impossible to use the laptop once they've reclined), etc. Not to mention the fact that it's extremely difficult to get in or out of my seat when I have to practically do the limbo to move. Of course this is mostly the airlines' fault for cramming us in, but I think it's a perfect example of the Golden Rule... Do Unto Others as You'd Have Them Do Unto You."
Karen White
4. Bringing Your Unruly Kids Along
You may think your darling offspring are little angels, and love to see them being active and having fun. Well you're the only one. Children should be stowed with the luggage down below if you ask me.
"They bring their monster children on an overseas flight. They subject the entire plane to their little brats who are so misbehaved that they shouldn't even be out in public let alone on a 12 hour flight."
Christy Daniels
5. Cleaning Your Feet
See point number 1, and then double it!
"Once I was on a flight from Boston to Athens when a big guy who was sitting across the isle from me took off his shoes and socks, propped up his ugly (and I can not emphasize that enough), scaly, unkempt feet and started picking at them. The topper was when he took out his toe-nail clippers and started to cut his thick, yellow nails and they started popping in the air on people's laps and in their food!"
6. Aiming Your Vomiting Baby At The Person Next To You
Mothers, as a general rule, there is never an occasion when someone wants your vomiting bundle of joy pointed at them, and that includes during a flight on a cramped airplane.
"Mother fed baby a bottle of milk that had been sitting in her bag for 2+ hours while waiting for take-off. Baby begins vomit so mother turn baby towards person in adjacent seat (me) and changes the color of my business suit."
Best regards
Mike Altmann
7. Trying To Get An Upgrade
You won't get one, so stop trying to ask.
"My husband always, always, ALWAYS asks for an upgrade. He's hopeless. I just try my best to blend in with the crowd."
Theresa Lapointe
8. Leaning Over Your Neighbor To Look Out Of The Window
If you were so desperate for a window seat you should have booked on when you ordered your ticket.
"I was seated in a window seat on a flight to Copenhagen. As the plane was coming in for landing the man next to me was leaning over me to look out the window, it was very weird."
Crissy
9. Creating Your Own Sleeping Den
Acceptable when you were 6 and your friend came for a sleep over at your house, not acceptable when you're a 45 year old business man on the red eye flight.
"I have a wild example for you... I was in the window seat on a flight from London to San Francisco. Sitting next to me was a guy on the final leg of an exhausting trip from Pakistan or India. He proceeded to pull down his tray table and put his feet on it, and to make himself a tent, covering himself completely, so he could sleep. Of course this improvised structure and spreadeagled posture of his impinged on my already ridiculously limited space."
10. Making Everyone Listen To Your Conversation
You are never as interesting or funny as you think you are, so keep it to yourself.
"Non-stop talking in loud voice"
R Berkowitz
11. Talking To The Person Next To You
If you're one of those people that says things like "you know me, I'll talk to anyone", then I hope to never have to sit next to you on a long flight.
"Talking nonstop to your obviously disinterested seat mate the entire flight about your **** ex wife and how terrible she is and what a great and successful guy you are."
Patty Ellis
12. Being Too Fat
Tricky one this, and your size may be outside of your control, but the simple fact is nobody likes to be crammed in.
"For me, the most annoying thing people do on an airplane applies to a very select group of people--those who are wider than their seats, and who proceed to pull up the arm rest between us (without asking) and "flow" into my seat. I once spent 10 hours squashed against the window with 1/3 of my seat taken up by someone else's thigh. Since then I have been much more assertive in insisting that the arm rest remain down. I paid for my entire seat!"
Wendy McIlroy
13. Dieing
May be not one of the most common problems, but it seems at least one person's had this experience...
"Once the guy next to me died. I felt bad for him."
Eric Jones
14. Hitting Everyone With Your Bag As You Board
What on earth do you need such a big bag for anyway!
"Having a shoulder bag stick out from the body so that when the person walks down the airplane’s center aisle, the side of the back hits everybody’s arm on the way through. There is at least 1 or 2 of these on every flight. If you are in seat 1C, you are bound to get bumped even more often because of people cutting the corner."
15. Stopping At The Bottom Of The Steps As You Disembark
At what point did you think that stopping and blocking a right of way of people who've spent the last who knows how many hours trapped on a plane while you adjust your hand luggage was a good idea?
"Stopping right after you get off the plane to get the roller handle on your bag extended, nearly causing a multi-person pile-up behind you. These people tend to do the same thing at the top of an escalator. The people walking behind you don’t appreciate getting stopped in their tracks and then waiting for somebody to get their “roll on”…"
16. Rolling Your Carry On Luggage Down The Plane
As it says below -- "It's called carry on not a roll on"
"And while on that subject, It is called a “carry on” not a “roll-on”. If you can’t safely navigate that roll-on down the aisle, maybe it was just a little too big to be brought on the plane anyway. Even if it has a roller, carry it once on the plane, don’t make everybody wait on you as you get caught on seats on your way down the aisle."
17. Being Too Eager To Board
The plane is not suddenly going to leave without you unless you stand within a metre of the gate. Just get out the way and wait your turn.
"Crowding around the door before your seating area is called. Why do people feel it is necessary to block the walkway to the jet way as soon as the plane starts boarding. Stand to the SIDE until your row/zone is called and everybody will get loaded faster. I can’t even count how many times I stood behind somebody thinking they were in line/queue to get on the plane only to find that they weren’t, they were just standing waiting for their zone to be called, so I had to try to squeeze around them to get in the “real” line to board."
18. If You’re A Pilot, Keep The Commentary Relevant
I don't need to be told we're cruising at 30,000 feet more than once. I especially don't need to be woken up to be told it.
"Pilots who insist on giving you the flight play by play. On occasional informative message is appreciated, but some pilots tend to ramble and well, frequent travelers are usually sleeping/reading/watching a DVD, or working on their computer and don’t need the constant interruption."
Gary Fowler
19. Overdoing The Duty Free Perfume Testers
Perfume should add a delicate and seductive note to the air as you pass, not make the eyes water of the person next to you.
"Wearing a lot of perfume is at the top of my list. I have mild allergies which really clock in when flying, and maybe it is the recycled air. and after five or ten or fifteen hours of the same smell morphing, mingling -- well, you get the picture. something mild or organic is considerate, but strong overpowering smells are really rude."
Lisa Siegel
20. Using Other People’s Storage Space
Maybe we should introduce a rule that says if you can't fit your luggage in your allocated space, you should be forced to have the rest on your knees for the entire flight.
"What annoys me the most is when people use other people's (my) overhead space with their bulky belongings! That ticks me off no end. (And I've used only the most polite way of wording this gripe.)"
Betty Sheldon
21. Entertaining Yourself Noisily
Any continual noise you make on a flight is going to be annoying, so give it a rest.
"Overnight flights when one person in business class loudly shuffles his cards as he plays solitaire by himself, when everyone else is trying to sleep."
Larry Hansen
22. When You’re Oblivious Other People Are Sleeping
Just wait until you try and sleep after you've kept your neighbors awake for the past few hours!
"On long night flights from U.S. to Europe, there always are some people who stay up all night talking,drinking, with lights on. Even with ear plugs, sleeping is impossible! Once, I woke up to find the white trash bleach blond in the seat behind me, with her red polished nails about two inches from my face. Yucck."
Roselyn Fredricks
Based on the experiences of Mobal World Phone users...
1. Clipping Your Finger Nails
There is a time and place for everything. And clipping your finger nails on an airplane is neither the time or the place!
"The worst is people who clip their fingernails. It is a total lack of class and respect to have someone’s dirty and repulsive nail clippings flying around the seating area while you’re either trying to read or worse, eat something. This has happened 3 or 4 times over the last several years."
Kevin Mullen
2. Using The Headrest In Front To Help You Stand Up
I find this is normally a tactic of gentlemen of advancing years (and girth for that matter). Not only do they find it harder to stand in their condition, it seems to have effected their ability to appologise too!
"I hate it when I am sitting in my seat...usually trying to sleep and the person behind me decides to get up and grabs the back of my seat for support, letting go as they walk away turning my seat into a catapult ,,,whip lash city!"
Glen Ridnour
3. Reclining Your Chair
This has got to be the most popular airplane crime committed. From just experiencing a lack of space to getting your scolding hot coffee thrown into your groin -- we've all been on the receiving end of a reclining chair.
"...People who recline their seats with no regard for the people sitting behind them. I've had people bruise my knees, almost break my laptop (and render it impossible to use the laptop once they've reclined), etc. Not to mention the fact that it's extremely difficult to get in or out of my seat when I have to practically do the limbo to move. Of course this is mostly the airlines' fault for cramming us in, but I think it's a perfect example of the Golden Rule... Do Unto Others as You'd Have Them Do Unto You."
Karen White
4. Bringing Your Unruly Kids Along
You may think your darling offspring are little angels, and love to see them being active and having fun. Well you're the only one. Children should be stowed with the luggage down below if you ask me.
"They bring their monster children on an overseas flight. They subject the entire plane to their little brats who are so misbehaved that they shouldn't even be out in public let alone on a 12 hour flight."
Christy Daniels
5. Cleaning Your Feet
See point number 1, and then double it!
"Once I was on a flight from Boston to Athens when a big guy who was sitting across the isle from me took off his shoes and socks, propped up his ugly (and I can not emphasize that enough), scaly, unkempt feet and started picking at them. The topper was when he took out his toe-nail clippers and started to cut his thick, yellow nails and they started popping in the air on people's laps and in their food!"
6. Aiming Your Vomiting Baby At The Person Next To You
Mothers, as a general rule, there is never an occasion when someone wants your vomiting bundle of joy pointed at them, and that includes during a flight on a cramped airplane.
"Mother fed baby a bottle of milk that had been sitting in her bag for 2+ hours while waiting for take-off. Baby begins vomit so mother turn baby towards person in adjacent seat (me) and changes the color of my business suit."
Best regards
Mike Altmann
7. Trying To Get An Upgrade
You won't get one, so stop trying to ask.
"My husband always, always, ALWAYS asks for an upgrade. He's hopeless. I just try my best to blend in with the crowd."
Theresa Lapointe
8. Leaning Over Your Neighbor To Look Out Of The Window
If you were so desperate for a window seat you should have booked on when you ordered your ticket.
"I was seated in a window seat on a flight to Copenhagen. As the plane was coming in for landing the man next to me was leaning over me to look out the window, it was very weird."
Crissy
9. Creating Your Own Sleeping Den
Acceptable when you were 6 and your friend came for a sleep over at your house, not acceptable when you're a 45 year old business man on the red eye flight.
"I have a wild example for you... I was in the window seat on a flight from London to San Francisco. Sitting next to me was a guy on the final leg of an exhausting trip from Pakistan or India. He proceeded to pull down his tray table and put his feet on it, and to make himself a tent, covering himself completely, so he could sleep. Of course this improvised structure and spreadeagled posture of his impinged on my already ridiculously limited space."
10. Making Everyone Listen To Your Conversation
You are never as interesting or funny as you think you are, so keep it to yourself.
"Non-stop talking in loud voice"
R Berkowitz
11. Talking To The Person Next To You
If you're one of those people that says things like "you know me, I'll talk to anyone", then I hope to never have to sit next to you on a long flight.
"Talking nonstop to your obviously disinterested seat mate the entire flight about your **** ex wife and how terrible she is and what a great and successful guy you are."
Patty Ellis
12. Being Too Fat
Tricky one this, and your size may be outside of your control, but the simple fact is nobody likes to be crammed in.
"For me, the most annoying thing people do on an airplane applies to a very select group of people--those who are wider than their seats, and who proceed to pull up the arm rest between us (without asking) and "flow" into my seat. I once spent 10 hours squashed against the window with 1/3 of my seat taken up by someone else's thigh. Since then I have been much more assertive in insisting that the arm rest remain down. I paid for my entire seat!"
Wendy McIlroy
13. Dieing
May be not one of the most common problems, but it seems at least one person's had this experience..."Once the guy next to me died. I felt bad for him."
Eric Jones
14. Hitting Everyone With Your Bag As You Board
What on earth do you need such a big bag for anyway!
"Having a shoulder bag stick out from the body so that when the person walks down the airplane’s center aisle, the side of the back hits everybody’s arm on the way through. There is at least 1 or 2 of these on every flight. If you are in seat 1C, you are bound to get bumped even more often because of people cutting the corner."
15. Stopping At The Bottom Of The Steps As You Disembark
At what point did you think that stopping and blocking a right of way of people who've spent the last who knows how many hours trapped on a plane while you adjust your hand luggage was a good idea?
"Stopping right after you get off the plane to get the roller handle on your bag extended, nearly causing a multi-person pile-up behind you. These people tend to do the same thing at the top of an escalator. The people walking behind you don’t appreciate getting stopped in their tracks and then waiting for somebody to get their “roll on”…"
16. Rolling Your Carry On Luggage Down The Plane
As it says below -- "It's called carry on not a roll on"
"And while on that subject, It is called a “carry on” not a “roll-on”. If you can’t safely navigate that roll-on down the aisle, maybe it was just a little too big to be brought on the plane anyway. Even if it has a roller, carry it once on the plane, don’t make everybody wait on you as you get caught on seats on your way down the aisle."
17. Being Too Eager To Board
The plane is not suddenly going to leave without you unless you stand within a metre of the gate. Just get out the way and wait your turn.
"Crowding around the door before your seating area is called. Why do people feel it is necessary to block the walkway to the jet way as soon as the plane starts boarding. Stand to the SIDE until your row/zone is called and everybody will get loaded faster. I can’t even count how many times I stood behind somebody thinking they were in line/queue to get on the plane only to find that they weren’t, they were just standing waiting for their zone to be called, so I had to try to squeeze around them to get in the “real” line to board."
18. If You’re A Pilot, Keep The Commentary Relevant
I don't need to be told we're cruising at 30,000 feet more than once. I especially don't need to be woken up to be told it.
"Pilots who insist on giving you the flight play by play. On occasional informative message is appreciated, but some pilots tend to ramble and well, frequent travelers are usually sleeping/reading/watching a DVD, or working on their computer and don’t need the constant interruption."
Gary Fowler
19. Overdoing The Duty Free Perfume Testers
Perfume should add a delicate and seductive note to the air as you pass, not make the eyes water of the person next to you.
"Wearing a lot of perfume is at the top of my list. I have mild allergies which really clock in when flying, and maybe it is the recycled air. and after five or ten or fifteen hours of the same smell morphing, mingling -- well, you get the picture. something mild or organic is considerate, but strong overpowering smells are really rude."
Lisa Siegel
20. Using Other People’s Storage Space
Maybe we should introduce a rule that says if you can't fit your luggage in your allocated space, you should be forced to have the rest on your knees for the entire flight.
"What annoys me the most is when people use other people's (my) overhead space with their bulky belongings! That ticks me off no end. (And I've used only the most polite way of wording this gripe.)"
Betty Sheldon
21. Entertaining Yourself Noisily
Any continual noise you make on a flight is going to be annoying, so give it a rest.
"Overnight flights when one person in business class loudly shuffles his cards as he plays solitaire by himself, when everyone else is trying to sleep."
Larry Hansen
22. When You’re Oblivious Other People Are Sleeping
Just wait until you try and sleep after you've kept your neighbors awake for the past few hours!
"On long night flights from U.S. to Europe, there always are some people who stay up all night talking,drinking, with lights on. Even with ear plugs, sleeping is impossible! Once, I woke up to find the white trash bleach blond in the seat behind me, with her red polished nails about two inches from my face. Yucck."
Roselyn Fredricks
Based on the experiences of Mobal World Phone users...
posted by Michael Furniss at
5:56 AM
14 Comments:
OK-Here's number 22+.
Having to sit next to someone on a 5 hour flight, who is chewing tobacco with a cup between his legs for the 'spit'. GROSS!!!
Rules are 'no smoking' NOT 'no chewing'
Very Funny.
Gotta say though, I roll my carry on, which is small enough to fit under a seat.
The aisle isn't wide enough to carry it by my side, so it's going to be in front or behind me. Might as well be behind on wheels. Usually once a I've got it lined up which usually just takes one try, it will do a nice roll down the aisle. It's a lot faster than trying to carry it. I do tend to wait until most people have disembarked though, so maybe unconciously I know it's going to be a pain to handle. And when it's a crowded backup what's the hurry as we all stand there and bake?
As side note though more recently, I have a disablity now, and carrying it that length is not an option. Mostly I just check it in, but when I need it as carry-on - have some patience. Sometimes totally healthy looking young people are dying of embarrassment and frustration wondering how they're going to handle things that "normal" people handle without it showing.
Most of these are truly annoying, but reclining your seat. Um, last time I checked, which was a few weeks ago on a flight, my seat actually was able to recline. Now, if it can recline, then why can't I recline it? When people in front of me recline their seat, I just move my stuff around. Such as the response to other annoyances, if you need to work on your computer, then think ahead and get a bulkhead seat with no one in front of you. And when the seat is reclined and I need to get out from the middle, grabbing that seat back may be the only thing to grab onto to steady oneself.
Many of these complaints, and I agree with them all, are attributable in large part to either ground crew or cabin crew.
Give passngers an inch, and they'd take half my seat, my storage bin, and then get totally upset because I had the audacity to ask them to not sleep with their head in my lap.
Where is the flight attendant?
Grossest of all for me was the fat lady who boarded the plane with a huge box of taco bell food and proceeded to eat it non-stop in my face for the entire duration of the flight while spilling over on both sides from her center seat. The first time I have ever been plane sick was when I had to endure the smell of all that fried food for 2 hours.
Stowing the children???
Sure, they can be annoying, but the last time I flew, everyone aboard appeared to be a former child. How about a little more patience with the human race, please.
Bottom line: if there's something you can do/not do to make the flight easier and more pleasant for those in the same tube, do it/ don't do it. Ask the crew for help if you're being squashed, or vomited on, and try to be grateful it doesn't take you weeks, months, or years to get from one place to another.
One more to add on the list.
Window passenger refused to lower their window shade during movie time.
One more to add on the list.
Window passenger refused to lower their window shade during movie time.
THE COMPLAINER
Last time we were travelling to Spain we had an older couple behind us both of whom complained loudly about everything, for almost the entire trip. I for one paid for my seat, I don't know why there are whiners that complain when the person in front of them reclines the seat, it does not bother me when it happens to me I just deal with it. Try sleeping without reclining, can not be done. This guy actually started hitting my seatback when I did it, only about 1/2 way back too to be considerate, and he hits my chair until I stand up and ask him if he is prepared to swim the rest of the way. It was not just that though, he complained about the seat, he complained about the food, the air, the bathroom, everything you can think of. Unreal. The flight back was equally confined and long, but with no complainer it was infinitely more enjoyable.
RE. #22 : Why is it that someone who is boarding to take a seat in the very back of the plane pauses at the first overhead bin they come to and stuffs their carry-on in it. This fills all the forward bins and the folks who sit in the seats beneath those bins have to wander back to the middle of the plane to find storage space for their things. This creates a real mess at the end of the flight. No wonder it can sometimes take 20-30 minutes to disembark a overseas flight!
I have to argue with the reclining seat one. While it is annoying to have the seat recline when you are trying to use your laptop in Coach...realize that you paid nothing for your ticket and thus...get what you paid for...if I can get that 45 minute cat nap with the 1 or 1.5 inches that the seat goes back...I'm leaning it back...and I don't care who is behind me...it is my seat...and the airline gave me the ability to recline it...just as you have the ability to dig your knees into the back of my seat (#23)...
just as obese people should buy two seats, people that knowingly are too "long" to fity into the seat in coach....should spend the money on the extra space they need. I highly doubt the airlines are going to put a "tall" section in the plane soon.
I once had the misfortune to be sitting between two huge, related people who'd had the good sense to book a window and an isle so they wouldn't be crowded. They not only spread into my space, they passed things back and forth and talked across me. I felt weird complaining because I would have been saying that they were too fat and too rude, but I'm more protective of my rights now and I'll never put up with that again.
The other thing I find most annoying is someone (usually a child) kicking my seat. Asking nicely for the kicking to stop usually gets only temporary results. The parents are right there, but seem oblivious.
I think the most annoying thing is when people "whistle a *&^*&^*&%@!! tune" to themselves for seveal hours straight.
Shutting the shade tight is not a requirement, nor is it a full passenger right to watch a chopped-up Hollywood banality on an overhead 1967-era color television. Some of us leave shades open -- even just a bit -- to relieve claustrophobia, which can be very, very real, especially in a dark plane on an overnight flight across the Atlantic. If the light is really obnoxious, such as (in the Northern Hemisphere) a south-facing window getting direct sunlight, some consideration should be made.
Post a Comment
<< Home