The little things that really annoy you when flying

It was supposed to be kind of tongue in cheek, but forgot smileys :rolleyes: Just thought I’d give my point of view. Sorry for getting on my high horse, of course everyone is more than entitled to their opinion.

Anyway, disagreement (hopefully) avoided….I don’t usually mind people reclining their seats, as as mentioned the functions there for a reason. I do also get annoyed at people taking a window seat when they don’t use it.

Ah, the all important smiley 🙂

No worries!

Paul

It was supposed to be kind of tongue in cheek, but forgot smileys :rolleyes: Just thought I’d give my point of view. Sorry for getting on my high horse, of course everyone is more than entitled to their opinion.

Anyway, disagreement (hopefully) avoided….I don’t usually mind people reclining their seats, as as mentioned the functions there for a reason. I do also get annoyed at people taking a window seat when they don’t use it.

I don’t really like loud people on planes who shout to each other from row to row, or people who forget there are tens of people sitting around them that don’t want to listen to their conversation.

I won’t take offense to that but……we do have to make sure the IATA and DfT regulations are being adhered to right down to the finest point as we are always being watched and tested.

Yes, we shouldn’t act all rightous and no, I’m not one of those who think I am better than the passengers. But, when trying to process 3,000 pax an hour people holding us up by not following simple rules tends to be a bit annoying 🙂 Further to that, we do need to act assertive so that pax will follow our instructions no matter our gender, shape, and size.

It’s just like any job really, when the customer isn’t doing what they should be unfortunately the employee sometimes takes it out on the next customer as a result.

You have no possible reason to even consider taking offence at that comment. It was a personal opinion, and wasn’t directed at a specific person, so why did you feel the need to open your reply in such a way?

I’ve flown enough times to have a fairly reasonable understanding of how it works, and this is something I’ve come across on more than one occasion. I understand perfectly well your point of having to get things done. I work in music and certain parallels can be drawn in terms of how you deal with people, but at the end of the day as a passenger who is paying for a service, I expect to be spoken to in a decent and respectful way, and quite frankly I find anything less than this totally unacceptable.

Paul

As for those airport security people who believe they’re some kind of superior being… Well… Don’t even go there…

I won’t take offense to that but……we do have to make sure the IATA and DfT regulations are being adhered to right down to the finest point as we are always being watched and tested.

Yes, we shouldn’t act all rightous and no, I’m not one of those who think I am better than the passengers. But, when trying to process 3,000 pax an hour people holding us up by not following simple rules tends to be a bit annoying 🙂 Further to that, we do need to act assertive so that pax will follow our instructions no matter our gender, shape, and size.

It’s just like any job really, when the customer isn’t doing what they should be unfortunately the employee sometimes takes it out on the next customer as a result.

Sitting next to someone when your tired and all they want to do is talk. Even when you close your eyes they persist with some form of conversaton !

Going back to the recline thing. The seats are designed to recline and it is not a crime to do so. When i was crew this caused so many problems. If the two people who are involved in the dispute can not sort it out between themselves in an adult manner then, you just have to say that the person in front has every right to have their seat back ?

[*]That person beside you who takes up all the arm roomEnough said![/list]

I can agree on that one. This happened on my flight back home last night. I had a window seat (6D on the 738) and the guy sitting next to me was leaning to my side so much I couldn’t sit with my back flat against the seat. After enduring 10 or so minutes of this I turned to him and said politely “would it be OK if I had a little bit of my space back?” He looked at me with a somewhat blank but mildly surprised expression and moved his backside over to where it should have been.

Is it really so difficult to show a little common courtesy to those you travel with? As someone who’s done plenty of flights after being awake 30 odd hours, I know you don’t always think quite as straight when you’re tired, but I really do wonder sometimes.

One other thing that annoys me is that rare occasion a member of the cabin crew take their tiredness or stressful day out on you. It’s only happened to me a couple of times, but when I ask a perfectly reasonable question I don’t expect a short and sharp answer delivered in a manner that suggests they just doesn’t care. Short tempered check in agents do very little to impress me either. As for those airport security people who believe they’re some kind of superior being… Well… Don’t even go there…

Paul

Sorry – was meant as a reply to WYSIWYG 🙂

No need to apologise 😉

I know that!

Sorry – was meant as a reply to WYSIWYG 🙂

“Queueing for boarding – The Gate agent said rows 1 to 10 not free for all!”

Not quite sure exactly what you mean but could it be that in some aircraft (like the 757-300) boarding had to be regulated (particularly at the front) to avoid the aircraft tipping on its tail?

What I meant is I hate the a-holes who still queue up, despite their row not having been called. They then hold the queue up as they talk to the gate agent and get sent back to sit down. The same person usualy then holds up the aisle on the aircraft by unpacking their carryons in the aisle and re arranging things before sittinig down.

Hiya,

Because the aisles on commercial jets are narrow, most airlines board by row, starting at the back [mostly]. This is so the aisle isn’t blocked when the person in row 1 starts putting all their stuff in the o/h with the rest of the aircraft waiting behind.

I know that!

What bugs me is that people swamp the queue regardless of what row has been called. They are always told to sit back down. But in the process of this they slow the queue down.

Perhaps I can add to that one…I have been said parent and my complaint is about the people that look at you thinking that you have the ability to switch the child off but choose not to. Do you really think we are happy with the situation? Whatever your stress level is, multiply it by 10 and that is where we are. Personally, despite having more opportunity than anyone else I know I don’t take my 4 year old on any flight over a couple of hours partially out of respect for other people.

I totally agree with you on that. Its out of your control how the baby reacts maybe to a new enviroment, and i’m sure your not pleased being the centre of attention during the flight.

Of course i was a little angel, 1st flew at 6 months, so i got used it is quite fast 😀

As i’m 19, parenting i’m sure is a few years ahead of me, but i’m sure i’ll find out the concequences of taking a young child on an aicraft 🙂

“Queueing for boarding – The Gate agent said rows 1 to 10 not free for all!”

Hiya,

Because the aisles on commercial jets are narrow, most airlines board by row, starting at the back [mostly]. This is so the aisle isn’t blocked when the person in row 1 starts putting all their stuff in the o/h with the rest of the aircraft waiting behind.

Very interesting thread. A few thoughts:

“Seatbelts – Why do so many people need to be told again how to put them on? I mean come on, its easier than spreading butter on bread. And why is it that immediately after the arrival brief on landing where the F/A says keep your belts on until light goes out you start hearing the clicks of belts coming off. I think people who do that need to be flogged or something.”

You wouldn’t believe how many idiots still have to be told how to fix one strap to another! Amazing. In my outfit the pilot who isn’t taxying makes a PA before we get onto stand asking the cabin crew to disarm the doors and asking the passengers to remain seated with the seatbelt fastenened until the seatbelt sign is extinguished. Now as a passenger you have no idea when we have come to a final halt except for us turning off the seatbelt sign. There are many occasions where we have to stop short of our final position (perhaps the docking guidance system hasn’t been turned on yet or the instructions for that stand are that big jets have to shut down early and be towed the last few yards because of jet blast, etc) so the idiots that stand up early are endangering others. Personally if you want to get up early then I couldn’t give a toss if you hurt yourself when you then fall over when we move again but I do give a toss when your stupidity means you fall on and hurt another passenger who was wisely following instructions. The thing that amuses me is that the person who battles to get off the plane first still has just as much chance of their bag coming off the reclaim last. Now that’s justice!

“Queueing for boarding – The Gate agent said rows 1 to 10 not free for all!”

Not quite sure exactly what you mean but could it be that in some aircraft (like the 757-300) boarding had to be regulated (particularly at the front) to avoid the aircraft tipping on its tail?

“If I can hold a pee in for 11 hours, why can’t everybody else?”

If nothing else comes of this thread understand that you must stop doing this. This is the sort of thing that leads to Irritable Bowel Syndrome and a whole heap of other problems for you and a perhaps a DVT or other condition related medical diversion for us. Going for a pee means you won’t be sat stationary in your seat for 11 hours and might be the only thing that gets your circulation moving. I know it’s a pain in the butt but one day you’ll thank me. One of my colleagues sets his countdown timer every 30 minutes and always gets out of the seat when it goes off. That might be a bit much but it’s a valid point.

“Babies crying throuought the flight. Sorry if anybody here has young children. They start crying once the door is closed, and stop once the door is open again”

Perhaps I can add to that one…I have been said parent and my complaint is about the people that look at you thinking that you have the ability to switch the child off but choose not to. Do you really think we are happy with the situation? Whatever your stress level is, multiply it by 10 and that is where we are. Personally, despite having more opportunity than anyone else I know I don’t take my 4 year old on any flight over a couple of hours partially out of respect for other people.

“People who recline the seat when the meals are being served”

With you on that one. I don’t go to a restaurant and ask for a flat bed!

I’d have to say the crying baby thing annoys me the most when I am flying long-haul. But the kid kicking the back of my seat gets on my nerves pretty quickly as well. I don’t care about the reclining seat business as if I am going to do it to the person behind me, it would be unfair of me to ask the person in front of me to keep his seat upright so that I can be comfortable. But that’s just me!

a) people to move/crush items in the o/h lockers just so they can get their own items in.

b) people who take ages to put item in o/h and continue trying to unpack/repack them whilst standing in up.

c) people who sit in an aisle seat then have to get up to allow people to get to window / middle seat.

d) people who fail to obey cabin crew instructions – had this on EK once but the best was on Garuda – pax during descent got a large bag out of o/h and put it in the aisle (just so he could get off quicker) cabin crew asked him to put it back, he refused, so they took the bag to the back of the place – he was last off!

Two things:

* I pay for a seat that reclines (as do all passengers). The space behind my seat, into which it reclines, is MY space, not the space of the passenger behind. If I don’t recline my seat, then the person behind temporarily gets use of extra space during that period. When I want to recline the seat, its going back whatever the passenger behind thinks and too bad for them.

Andy

Interesting argument. If, as you say, the space you are paying for is the space of the seat in full recline, surely the advertised seat pitch is therefore erroneous?

The easy answer to the seat recline problem, particularly on long-haul, is to fly business class… Saves having to sit with all the chavs too! 🙂

Andy

Two things:

* If I get a window seat and want it because I want to sleep and as I find it easier to do so with my head resting against the cabin wall, too bad, I’m gonna pull the blind down

* I pay for a seat that reclines (as do all passengers). The space behind my seat, into which it reclines, is MY space, not the space of the passenger behind. If I don’t recline my seat, then the person behind temporarily gets use of extra space during that period. When I want to recline the seat, its going back whatever the passenger behind thinks and too bad for them.

Andy

Mine is the fat, sweaty person who takes up the there’s and your seats in one go, and they always seem to be sat next to me.

I think that’s a bit personal actually!! 😡 😡

It’s my glands you know, not my fault.

Kev 😉 😀

Ok, point taken! 🙂 (on a short haul cattle trip tho’…..my argument was on a KLM 777….lots of room).

However, I agree with your tip as I’m of a similar frame to you, and try to use the same method to hold the seat forward with my knees.But you do need to keep your concentration though, as it can be painful when they recline,if your relaxed and not expecting it…lol 😀

Anyway I will stop making cruel remarks about my ‘Heir Fuhrer’, cos’ she is lovely really! :diablo:

Cheers

Kev