Inspired to write this post on my flight back to Melbourne from Brisbane after sitting in my low cost airline seat with the gentleman behinds knees in my back for nearly an hour before plucking up the courage to ask him to move his knees after debating for 10 minutes if it would be rude of me to ask I thought maybe I we should start a conversation on what we all think is acceptable on flights?
For me I was considering going through the entire 2 and a half hour flight suffering this gentlemans knees moving consistently and pressed into my back through the cheap seating of my flight, maybe I am too British sometimes and consider it rude to impose on other people when lets face it low cost lair line seating isn't that comfortable for any of us and he was probably trying to get comfortable, but are being driven to distraction and just getting more and more frustrated I decided to forget the stiff upper lip and just politely ask him if he would mind moving his knees back a little. He did so and apologised but I know it's not his fault, he is in the same boat as the rest of us.
So here is my little list of things we can all do on flights to make it more pleasurable for each of us.
Don't hog the arm rest - I normally choose the window seat in planes and then consider the arm rest next to the window mine but then which do we consider after this? Remember the poor person in the middle could be contending with both travellers either side of them and while their arms should not invade your space maybe let them have both inner arm rests as the seats either side have the most space.
Be considerate of the person in front of you - try not to stick your knees in their back, rifle around the pocket on the back of the seat every 5 minutes or if the inflight magazine pocket is at the top push and pull on this too much, remember there is another human being sat in front of you and they have paid for their seat just as you have.
Don't talk over loudly - everyone on the plane doesn't need to hear you conversation to your neighbour and especially on night flights when others may be trying to rest in preparation for the next stage of their journey be respectful of this. While there is always residual noise on planes this does not mean your voice need be raised above the normal talking tone, unless of course you are inviting the whole plane into your conversation.
Don't tut at parents who's children are crying - and definitely do not shoot them dirty looks. Children who scream and cry on flights are not the best to be sat around but just think of their poor mother (or father) who is probably feeling incredibly bad for disturbing the plane in the first place. We can't help that children will cry on planes but tutting and shooting their parent a nasty look isn't exactly going to improve the situation is it? Is there a way you can help? If not just ride it out and after 10 minutes the child is normally calm again so instead of making the parent feel worse than they probably already do, in this case, keep your opinion to yourself and maybe listen to the inflight entertainment or your MP3 player instead.
What would you conside good etiquette on flights? Disagree with any of mine? Let me know in the comments below.
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