I was squeezed like a sardine in a can on two of the three legs of my trip yesterday. But on that third leg with more room there was a standout annoying passenger who made that third leg the hardest to endure.
If you really must whistle for three straight hours during a flight… please, for all that is good and right and holy, whistle on key.
But first look around. See all the nearby passengers trying to sleep? Whistling isn’t like listening to music through headphones (which this guy was also doing). We can’t hear your music but sure as hell can hear your incessant droning on.
And would it really hurt you to at least whistle a possibly recognizable tune? You see, there are notes that go together. You may have heard of something called a musical scale, or a key? There are even entire tunes that are known for their whistling parts.
So to my fellow Dopers, what annoying airline passenger habits have you endured?
People bringing bags as carry-on that are way too large, both as per common sense and as per the airline rules, and the airlines letting them.
What also really annoys me is cabin crew and other passengers whining about closing the window thingy so I have to sit in the dark even though it’s light outside.
And of course the people who put back their seat back for 10.5 hours of an 11 hour flight and then become bitchy when you ask them if they can put it up so you can eat breakfast in a reasonable manner.
I’ve learned to let most things go over my head after realising that I’m probably just cranky from having endured the early start, the trip to the airport, and the interminable queues for check-in and security. But damn, three hours of tuneless (undoubtedly nervous) whistling. That’s going to be a trial.
People stowing their luggage in the first available space they see, even though their own seats are further back. I don’t have a problem with it if it’s the stewards playing luggage-tetris once most people are already sat and their luggage stowed (at that point, that space really is available), but when someone takes it upon themselves to do that, the people sitting below the squatting luggage are likely to have to stow their own luggage… somewhere above the head of the squatting arsehole.
Conversely, people who think that the locker above their seat and five other seats Belongs to them and who will insult, yell at or even threaten physically anybody who dares use it. Extra points for refusing to believe the stewards when they say that no, your ticket entitles you to a specific seat but not to a specific locker, much less to a whole locker.
People whose “hand baggage” is way above any “hand baggage” definitions.
People who still don’t know the wheels go in first.
I got such a bright smile recently for stowing my backpack under the seat in front of me that I suspect that stewardess has spent way too much breath asking people to do so.
People who think an Airbus is a night club. Special mention to a specific crowd of Danish guys on their way to Ibiza, who didn’t get thrown into jail because nobody wanted to punish the usual crowd of thieves and drug pushers by dropping such trash into their midst.
I think this might become a thing of the past. Last couple of flights I’ve taken (on big, modern aircraft - Airbus A3somethings if I remember) had no reclining seats.
After I take the pre-flight Xanax, nothing bothers me. All of ISIS could show up screaming “Allah akbar!” and trying to stow their oversized guns in the bins, and I’d be fine with it.
I recall seeing a new type of airline seat (it might have been here) where instead of it reclining backwards, it slides down and sort of rolls forward. It still reclines the same, but instead of reclining into the person behind you, it makes your personal area smaller. IOW, it puts your knees closer to the seat in front of you.
I wish I could find the article/video I saw. It seemed like it made the most sense. If you want to recline, you should be the only one inconvenienced.
(nitpick) RobDog everything from Airbus since 1972 is an A3something – just as everything from Boeing since 1958 is a 7something7 and they are one model away from a momentuous marketing decision.
(/nitpick)
Once inside the airplane with your rollaboard bag, if you are an able-bodied person, close the pulling handle, grab it by the regular carrying handle, lift it, and carry it like a regular suitcase narrow-side-forward. Don’t try to keep pulling/pushing it down the aisle wide-side-forward snagging it on armrests and people’s hips.
OK, so there are some articles that you will need to have in your hands during the flight (reading materials, snacks, pillow, iPod, things to entertain the kids with, things to tranquilize the kids with). How about you bring them aboard already in your hands, in the allowed second small-handbag item that goes underfoot, rather than lifting your main carry-on to the overhead and *then *opening it to rummage for those items?
To the people who turn on their mobile phones while we are still on short final: may a bumpy landing cause you to cram that device up a nostril.
Actually the seat back does still lean back a bit. The pivot point is effectively about 1/3rd of the way above the seat pan.
But yes overall you’re right. By altering the terms of trade so reclining isn’t a pure gain for you and a pure loss for the person behind you, it nudges customers towards collectively more friendly behavior.
The funny thing is how many people can’t operate these seats without being shown. They try to push backwards with their hips or lower back and it doesn’t work.
No, it was definitely an Airbus A3something. It said so on the safety card in the seat pocket in front of me. I think I accidentally brought it home with me…
.
.
.
.
Yep, here it is:
“Wælcöme aþörd this Icelanðair Ærbus A3sömething. We höope yöu have a plæsent flight. Þlæse take a mööment tö ræd this safety card.” etc.
Kids, goddamn fucking kids. From birth thru college, they can always be obnoxious. From squealing little shits to older dumb fucks, female kids having their major drama every goddamn five minutes. Older goddamn boy kids thinking that they need to practice a basketball dunk shot every three steps. Gangs off two or more fucking kids having to bump into every goddamn person on an aisle seat. All of them just being a goddamn nuisance. If those fuckers need to fly, do so in groups of no more than one fucking kid, or put them down in the belly of the fucking plane.
Children on flights. Having to endure them sitting behind you and kicking your seat. The parents of these brats think you are being rude for even acknowledging that their little darling is doing anything to bother you.
Whenever there is a trip involved that has the option to fly, I consider driving or taking the train.
A minor one, but I’m annoyed when the person in the seat behind me uses my seatback to help them stand up.
Perhaps it’s because I’m not tall but I’m mystified at people who are annoyed when the person in front reclines his/her seat. When they do so, the part of their seat nearest to your knees moves not at all while the part closest to your head moves about two or three inches.
