W.I.N. Wednesday: An air travel rant from a grumpy old man.
I travel for work between 26 and 33 weeks a year, most of those trips involve multiple flights at both ends of the trip. The following rant is for my fellow air travellers, whether you flight a lot, or just occasionally.
During the safety briefings please put your book away, pause the movie you are watching on your phone or table, shut up and pay attention to the safety briefings. Plane crashes are rare but when they happen people who pay attention to the safety briefings perform better than those who don’t. Before you get on the plane pull up the seating chart for the flight, look at what seat you are in, and count rows of seats going forward and back to get to the nearest emergency exit. Then, mentally rehearse how many seats you need to touch or go over to get to each exit in the event of an emergency. Mentally and physically rehearse undoing your seatbelt in an emergency. It works differently than the one in your vehicle. Don’t let your ignorance cost you or someone else their life when seconds count.
If you need to recline your seat during the flight, please do it slowly. Don’t be one of those idiots who slams his or her seat back into the fully reclined position. Space is limited already, and people are trying to work on their computers or watch videos on their tablets. They don’t need you breaking their stuff or spilling their drinks because you are too inconsiderate to simply recline your seat slowly. Better yet, keep your seat in the upright position or just recline slightly so the person behind you can enjoy what little space they have.
If you are flying on a smaller regional plane and the gate agent puts a green gate check tag on your bag, please leave it where you are directed to instead of thinking you are somehow special and your special bag will fit in the small overhead bins. When your bag does not fit, like the agent knew it would not, then you will have to fight your way upstream to the front of the plane and gate check it like you should have at the start.
Please learn to count to 2 before boarding a plane. You are only allowed two carry-on bags, and one is supposed to fit under the seat in front of you. The rule applies to everyone. You are not special and somehow exempt from the rules. Yes, the exception is that you can bring your CPAP or other medical device as a third carry-on.
The aisles of planes are narrow. Please be aware of your backpack, purse, snowboarding helmet, ski boots, coffee, and everything else you are carrying onto the plane and don’t be one of those jerks who is smacking everyone seated in an aisle seat as you cluelessly stumble to your row, or spilling coffee on them as you try to look at your ticket to see where you are seated.
Ticket agents, gate agents and flight attendants are not responsible for weather issues, mechanical issues or other issues that result in delayed flights so please stop abusing them. Instead, be kind to them as delays complicate their life as well.
When you are walking through the airport get your head out of your phone. Airports are busy and people are trying to get to their gates. They don’t need you walking into them because you are focused on your stupid phone scrolling through unimportant e-mails, text messages or posts on Facebook or X.
If you are going to watch movies or listen to music on your phone, then buy headphones. Nobody else wants to listen to the crap you are listening to or watching on your phone.
If you need to have a phone conversation in the airport or in one of the airport lounges, then find a quiet spot away from other people and make sure you have headphones. Nobody else needs to listen to your conversation with your grandkids, spouse, friend, client, or anyone else. You do not need to have a phone conversation while you are on a plane. If it is truly an emergency, then use the headphones you should have already purchased, talk quietly, and keep the call brief.
Do not ask other people to move from the seat they booked months ago so you can sit by your spouse or friend only to sleep the whole flight, or read, or watch movies. I am sure they can survive the flight without you sitting beside them and ignoring them.
Air travel is not that enjoyable at the best of times. If you are going to fly for business or pleasure, please be respectful of everyone else crammed into that plane and of the airline employees who are doing their best with a system they did not create. Thank you from a grumpy old man who spends too much time on airplanes and in airports.
Take care.
Brian Willis
www.lifesmostpowerfulquestion.com
ONE QUESTION BRINGING FOCUS AND CLARITY IN THE CHAOS AND COMPLEXITY OF TODAY'S WORLD.
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