Airplane/airport Ettiquette

[sparklestar]

I think that unless you're morally opposed to it you should do what the attendent tells you to do. They do this all the time and in my experience, generally know what they are talking about.

Even if you are morally opposed to it, do what the attendant asks - they are there for your safety! 

I cannot fathom the people who blatantly ignore the announcements to watch the safety demonstration and follow instructions re: stowage etc.  I've seen the demo 600 times too, but you know what?  It might actually save your life! 

[Nannerdoman]

I'm sitting here enjoying fantasies of the attendant asking me to do something to which I'm morally opposed.  ("Excuse me, ma'am?  The captain needs to play some hot monkey Scrabble right now.    Please report to the cockpit.")

Actually, the reason I listen to the safety demonstration is purely one of etiquette.  These people are required by law to recite this spiel dozens of times a week.  The least I can do is give them the courtesy of my attention for three minutes or so.

[TychaBrahe]

I'm sitting here enjoying fantasies of the attendant asking me to do something to which I'm morally opposed.  ("Excuse me, ma'am?  The captain needs to play some hot monkey Scrabble right now.    Please report to the cockpit."

Actually, the reason I listen to the safety demonstration is purely one of etiquette.  These people are required by law to recite this spiel dozens of times a week.  The least I can do is give them the courtesy of my attention for three minutes or so.

The reason that you should listen to the safety lecture (and read the documents in the seatback pocket) are because in crashes where a limited number of people survive, of those who do survive, a significantly larger proportion of them did read the information and pay attention to the lecture.

Reading such information and thinking about what you would do in case of an emergency helps keep you from panicking and helps you do the right thing if you do encounter that situation.

(I always count the number of rows to the nearest exit and think in terms of getting out of my row, turning one direction or another, and putting my hand on the seat back in that direction and counting until I would get to the exit row.  Knowing this, I could exit in the dark or in a cabin full of smoke.  I flew to Providence last week.  On the way out, the exit row was to the right, three rows behind me.  On the way back, to the left, four rows in front of me.)

[JadeAngel]

If you are one of those people who leaps up the second the seatbelt sign goes off and you (inevitably) find yourself stuck in the aisle waiting for economy class to be allowed to disembark, please be respectful of other people around you.

I always ask for a window seat and deliberately disembark after everyone else and recently I had a guy who leaped up as soon as the lights went off and was trapped in his row, he spent the next ten minutes banging his fist on the back of my head rest despite repeated requests from me to stop and it was very distracting for me as I was trying to read my book. Nobody's going anywhere, so you're not going anywhere and thumping and whining is not going to change that so sit down if standing up is uncomfortable, and wait.

[Nurvingiel]

This discussion about listening to the flight attendant's spiel reminded me of some pretty awesome flight attendants out there, like the guy who gave this epic announcement.

[Switcher]

-If you know you need a kosher/veggie meal prior to flight, specify this when you are getting your ticket if you can. Most long flights will ask you exactly which meal you want. Do not board the plane and expect the flight crew to be able to attend to your requirements on really short notice.

-Don't. Kick. My. Seat. Or anyone's seat for that matter. Everything you do to the seat back can be felt by the people in front of you.

-Do not attempt to join the Mile High Club. It's tacky, it's obnoxious, and there are always people who need to use the bathroom to pee.

-If you feel yourself getting tired, do not lean on the person next to you or try to use them to prop a pillow up.

[JadeAngel]

This discussion about listening to the flight attendant's spiel reminded me of some pretty awesome flight attendants out there, like the guy who gave this epic announcement.

That's awesome... 

[gollymolly2]

That's probably a good question for a spin off thread. I'm cool with bare feet or socks *if* they stay on the ground, under the seat in front of you. I'm cool with slippers anywhere in the plane.

I think the ideal situation for me is not to notice anyone else's feet, so I'd much rather someone be barefoot and sit normally than someone have full shoes and socks on but sit cross legged and poke me with their feet.

[kherbert05]

-If you know you need a kosher/veggie meal prior to flight, specify this when you are getting your ticket if you can. Most long flights will ask you exactly which meal you want. Do not board the plane and expect the flight crew to be able to attend to your requirements on really short notice.

-Don't. Kick. My. Seat. Or anyone's seat for that matter. Everything you do to the seat back can be felt by the people in front of you.

-Do not attempt to join the Mile High Club. It's tacky, it's obnoxious, and there are always people who need to use the bathroom to pee.

-If you feel yourself getting tired, do not lean on the person next to you or try to use them to prop a pillow up.

If you did not order a special meal DO NOT take one.  The guy in front of me ordered a vegi meal. Someone else took it. When the attendant found the error (seats had been changed due to weather rescheduling), the guy that took the meal said I don't care this looks better than the other.

The poor guy that was suppose to have the meal was very hungry. Everyone on my row passed down their apples and crackers to the guy. Several people offered stacks they had packed for themselves.

[Switcher]

If you did not order a special meal DO NOT take one.  The guy in front of me ordered a vegi meal. Someone else took it. When the attendant found the error (seats had been changed due to weather rescheduling), the guy that took the meal said I don't care this looks better than the other.

Forgot to add that! Yes, 100 percent.

Other stuff that should be noted

-Alcohol has a slightly different affect in a pressurized cabin than it does at home. Do not spend the entire flight boozing up, thus becoming an annoyance, and try to remember that you may get drunk faster in a tube flying through the sky at 400 miles an hour than you do at home.

-If you don't have the window seat, do not lean over the person who does to look out the window or play with the screen. If you would like them to close it, ask politely if they wouldn't mind. Unfortunately, he who holds the seat controls the window flap.

[M-theory]

-If you know you need a kosher/veggie meal prior to flight, specify this when you are getting your ticket if you can. Most long flights will ask you exactly which meal you want. Do not board the plane and expect the flight crew to be able to attend to your requirements on really short notice.

-Don't. Kick. My. Seat. Or anyone's seat for that matter. Everything you do to the seat back can be felt by the people in front of you.

-Do not attempt to join the Mile High Club. It's tacky, it's obnoxious, and there are always people who need to use the bathroom to pee.

-If you feel yourself getting tired, do not lean on the person next to you or try to use them to prop a pillow up.

If you did not order a special meal DO NOT take one.  The guy in front of me ordered a vegi meal. Someone else took it. When the attendant found the error (seats had been changed due to weather rescheduling), the guy that took the meal said I don't care this looks better than the other.

The poor guy that was suppose to have the meal was very hungry. Everyone on my row passed down their apples and crackers to the guy. Several people offered stacks they had packed for themselves.

Well, the guy who got the special meal was a jerk, but the flight attendant really dropped the ball there. I'd take that one to customer service after I got home.

Edited to fix quotes.

[JonGirl]

I'm sitting here enjoying fantasies of the attendant asking me to do something to which I'm morally opposed.  ("Excuse me, ma'am?  The captain needs to play some hot monkey Scrabble right now.    Please report to the cockpit.")

Actually, the reason I listen to the safety demonstration is purely one of etiquette.  These people are required by law to recite this spiel dozens of times a week.  The least I can do is give them the courtesy of my attention for three minutes or so.

HOT MONKEY SCRABBLE!!! WWWAAAAHHHH!! 

[kareng57]

-If you know you need a kosher/veggie meal prior to flight, specify this when you are getting your ticket if you can. Most long flights will ask you exactly which meal you want. Do not board the plane and expect the flight crew to be able to attend to your requirements on really short notice.

-Don't. Kick. My. Seat. Or anyone's seat for that matter. Everything you do to the seat back can be felt by the people in front of you.

-Do not attempt to join the Mile High Club. It's tacky, it's obnoxious, and there are always people who need to use the bathroom to pee.

-If you feel yourself getting tired, do not lean on the person next to you or try to use them to prop a pillow up.

If you did not order a special meal DO NOT take one.  The guy in front of me ordered a vegi meal. Someone else took it. When the attendant found the error (seats had been changed due to weather rescheduling), the guy that took the meal said I don't care this looks better than the other.

The poor guy that was suppose to have the meal was very hungry. Everyone on my row passed down their apples and crackers to the guy. Several people offered stacks they had packed for themselves.

If the passenger did say that, then yes, he belongs in Ehell.

However - I can understand mistakenly eating a vegetarian meal, especially if there was no choice (other than special diets, of course).  Most airline food is so bad anyway - I could see myself eating, say, a meatless lasagne, not realizing that it was supposed to be another passenger's veggie meal.  That's if I was travelling alone of course - if I had a friend or family member with me, I'd probably wonder why they had steak or chicken, and I got meatless lasagne (which I don't dislike, by the way).

Actually I wonder why airlines wouldn't keep a few spare special-diet meals on each flight.  There will always be last-minute passenger changes i.e. someone who needs a Kosher meal was on a flight that was cancelled, and suddenly gets a seat on another flight that's about to take off.  His request for a Kosher meal might not follow him onto the next flight.  If airlines were to do this - sure, they'd likely end up having to discard some meals, but that must happen anyway to some extent - for example, no-shows.

Maybe someone in the airline industry can answer this?

[Finduilas]

Plus it's not like it's a huge deal for a non-kosher/halaal person to eat a kosher/halaal meal, whereas on the other way around, it's a problem if there's not enough special ones.

[saki]

Approximately 20% of the times I've flown, I've had the flight attendant tell me that I didn't order a vegetarian meal.  I'm a lifelong vegetarian, I always order it when booking my tickets, I call 2 weeks before the flight to check on it, I check again when I'm checking in, and yet STILL I get told by the flight attendant that I didn't book it in advance.  I bet, sometimes, people around me think that I didn't book it in advance and am just trying to get one on short notice, I'm not, the airlines can just be terrible at this.  I too don't understand why they can't just take on a few extra ones.  I don't mind going without on a short flight but transatlantic, which is one of the more frequent flights I'm taking, is not fun with no food.