Every traveller knows that globetrotting is a rewarding experience, but that doesn’t mean it is without risks or, at best (because they can be worse), irritants along the way. Consider travel piques part of the collateral damage, but that doesn’t mean you have to swallow everything.
Unfortunately, you don’t get to choose who you seat with in the carrier (unless you are travelling with family or friends and you managed to book seats close to each). Imagine a long-haul travel with a fellow traveler who seemed to have mastered the most annoying habits in your book.
Just for fun (or otherwise), check out a few scenarios you have or will most likely experience in one of your travels. Independent Traveler.com enumerates 10 Annoying Habits of Our Fellow Travelers that can push your patience and sanity to the edge.
Here is the Top 5:
- Asking Favors
I’m as helpful as the next guy, always willing to lend a hand to a fellow traveler. So please don’t take advantage of me.
Some favorites:
“Uh, do you mind if we switch seats?…”
“Do you need your extra pillow?…”
“… Can I use your headset?”
… You get the idea.
- Poor Planning, Terrible Timing
These are the people who get up to walk around while the flight attendants are carting food in the aisles, the folks who need to get their magazine out of the overhead bin just as you are falling asleep — the folks who do everything at the worst possible time.
4b. Jumping Up As Soon As the Plane Reaches the Gate
These people pull their monstrous bags out of the overhead bin, then lean them on top of your seatback because they can’t stand up straight and can’t hold their suitcases themselves. Not only is this annoying; it’s dangerous as well.
- Workaholic Habits
… And just because you have a laptop out and feel busy and important doesn’t mean you have any rights to any part of your neighbor’s seat. Tuck your elbows in and pile your papers in your lap, please.
- Any-aholic Behavior
Boozing on planes is the primary cause of air rage incidents, bar (pun intended) none. I’d bet these incidents occur most often on delayed flights — that is, those flights where passengers have already had an opportunity to fuel up at the bar while waiting for boarding.
- Traveling While Sick
Everyone knows that airplanes, buses and trains are petri dishes on wheels; in fact, many global epidemics are disseminated by air travelers. Is it any surprise that the first known cases of West Nile virus occurred a few miles from LaGuardia Airport?”
There are other annoying practices that can put your forbearance to the test:
- Pets: sharing the cabin with them. There are passengers with pet allergies. Pets can also be a nuisance; imagine them relieving on long–haul flights, making noises, clambering onto your seat or lap, not to mention carrying and transmitting diseases. In this scenario, what must airlines give priority to: pets or passengers?
- Forgetting seat etiquettes. Who gets the armrest between seats? Do you realize seating in the middle can be unnerving so that more would prefer to wait for the next flight than take the next seat? There are people who forget that you sit next them, and you are not his/her partner, friend or relative.
- Nonstop chatting. Chatty seatmates can be a blessing on an otherwise boring international flight, but they must give their tongues and your ears a rest at some point. If they don’t stop, it is inevitable that you either fall asleep (which is rude) or do something equally rude –pretend you’re reading or watching a movie.
- Overwhelming carry-on bags that invade your space (and put you at risk). These bags come in all shapes, sizes and colors. Overbearing passengers hog the overhead cabins or lug the bag too often to get stuff. The worst part is when they fail to secure the latch of the overhead cabin and it (along with other equally monstrous bags) falls on your or another passenger’s head.
What do you do under any of these situations? Once you blew your top, you are ready to deal with the passenger in a strong way. Remember, using tactless, violent ways to teach the passenger a lesson in a most unforgettable manner (and risk your safety) is tempting, but it usually just leads to more problems. He/she may behave better next time around, and so would you.
Instead, why not choose to be courteous – talk to the concerned passenger diplomatically, ask a flight attendant to deal with the matter, or push your patience a mile longer and don’t do anything.
There is no question, all these habits are annoying. Look at it as some indemnities for a forthcoming rewarding holiday. At worst, don’t lose your temper, instead talk placidly and get you message across. And if you are among those passengers who have any of these uncaring ways, be more considerate. You may not be so lucky next time.
