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From the category archives:
While I don’t like it when they person in front of me reclines their seat, there is not much I can do about it. Some will argue that since the seat reclines, they have a right to use that function. Some will argue that they paid to have enough room to survive a flight, and it is rude for someone to recline their seat into that space. Some obviously complain when the reclining seat causes them pain. These are kind of gray areas where each side has an argument to make, but I think there are a few things that are more black and white. Here is a (partial) list compiled from my own experiences:
1) If you must put your seat back, don’t SLAM it back. I’ve had my laptop shoved painfully into my chest. On another occasion, the seat broke the hinge on my laptop screen. On other occasions, I’ve had my knees crushed because I wasn’t given time to get them out of the way.
2) Once your seat is back, please don’t bounce in your seat. You have my legs pinned and when you bounce, it hurts! On a recent flight, I was seated behind a young woman who put her seat back and then spent half her time sitting straight up in the seat. Every 2 or 3 minutes: BAM! She would fall back against her seat back causing me significant pain. The way she was figeting, I thought she was a young teen, but when the flight was over and she turned around to get her stuff, it turns out she was actually the adult mother of the kid sitting (still) next to her. Which brings me to my next point:
3) If you must put your seat back, at least USE IT while it is in the reclined position. It is upsetting to be pinned behind the seat of someone who has it reclined, while they spend the whole time sitting straight up. Even if it is your “right” to put the seat back, basic consideration should dictate that you understand that you are making the person behind you uncomfortable. So if you are not going to USE the reclined seat, then please put it in the upright position.
4) Please don’t dump your hair over the back of the seat. This has happened to me more than once, where I end up with someone’s hair in my lap. Unpleasant. A few years ago I was sitting behind a woman with very long hair. She put her seat back and then flipped her hair over the seat, where it covered the book I had in my lap. I asked her to move her hair to her own side of the seat, which earned me a dirty look. An hour later, she did it again. Again I asked her to move it. The third time, I got her back. Well, actually she got herself back for me. I had my airline meal on my tray, and she dumped her hair right into my dinner, which thankfully, included gravy. I might have made sure that most of the hair resting on my tray got it’s ride in the gravy, but I can’t remember for sure 
.
5) Finally, do not think you are so special that you can put your seat back during take off and landing. Besides the fact that you are disobeying the orders of the cabin crew, violating FAA regulations and creating a safety hazard, these are the two brief periods in the flight where you unequivocally DON”T have a right to have your seat back. Since you are going to crush my legs for the next five hours, at least grant me these few (legally required) minutes of respite.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot… just as it is your right to put your seat back, it is my right to use my reading light and air jet. The fact that you have placed your head in the path of both is not my problem.
- Demotage
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The Importance of Being Polite
August 16, 2010
in Flying Hell Commentary
When you think about it, we are all just big babies who have been potty trained and conditioned to suppress our tantrum urges. The frustrations of air travel are abundant and impossible to ignore: waiting in line just to be told we were sent to the wrong line, weather delays, stupid people everywhere, harried staff that come off as rude, what have you. All these things encourage us to let out the shrieking man-baby within. Wouldn’t it feel great to just punch the smirk off that smarmy counter agent’s face, flush the screaming newborn down the lavatory toilet, recline your seat as violently as possible into that tall guy behind you simply because you don’t like his looks?
Don’t do it. Fantasize away, but now you are grown and you must act accordingly. For the love of all that used to be posh and civilized, you will be rewarded if you exercise restraint by knowing that you have made someone’s day a bit easier. Be considerate and helpful to flight attendants and airline staff – chances are you make more money than they do, and stressed/irritable passengers are everybody’s problem when you’re working as an airline team. I can’t count how many times I have been thanked by airport and airline personnel, indirectly via a smile or extra peanuts or with a “thank you for being patient,” simply because I am polite.
There is surely truth in the most recent post about expectations and whatnot. While Japan still refers to customers in the humble polite tense and bows to every single passenger as they deplane, it is a fool’s hope to expect that same kind of treatment from U.S. airlines, and so we lower our expectations. Some employees ARE genuinely rude and deserve to be demoted to family-oriented Disney World Orlando flights, but it is my belief that American airline staff have grown cool and curt at least partially as a reaction to the way passengers treat them. They too have lowered their expectations. I’ve seen middle aged men snapping their fingers at busy flight attendants, young moms losing it and screaming at gate agents in front of their children, and all sorts of customers ranging from difficult to deserving of death. Most people are decent (by “decent” I mean they refrain from throwing tantrums on board or at the airport), but unfortunately many of the memorable ones are the indecent ones.
Think back to the jobs you worked – surely anyone without a trust fund has some customer service-related work experience. Remember those jerks who yelled at you and insisted on speaking to your manager when there was nothing to be done? But I’m sure you also remember at least a few nice people who chatted with you at checkout, complimented your haircut or your earrings, and thanked you like they meant it. The folks who tricked you into thinking “I could ring register my whole life if everyone were like that!”
If in the turbulent throes of our travel woes we cannot actually kill people, why not do the second best thing and kill them with kindness?
Tagged as: flight attendant
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