Cabin Common Sense

by Bobby Laurie
on July 15th, 2010
9 Comments

It should go without saying that as a flight attendant I see some pretty crazy and disgusting things on an almost daily basis. There’s an old saying that flight attendants have that goes, “passengers seem to check their brains with their baggage at the ticket counter.” Well, with the increase of baggage fees no one is checking their bags anymore, and though you would think that their brains would now accompany their bags on board, it seems the metal detector at the security checkpoint is frying them.

Once people walk through the airplane door they seem to let go of all of their inhibitions and enter an imaginary world. A world where anything goes, nothing makes sense and no one knows you. People seem to do things that they ordinarily wouldn’t or do things that they don’t realize are wrong and frowned upon.

I know that aircraft passenger seats are uncomfortable (I’m willing to bet my jumpseat is worse, but I digress) and finding a position which is bearable for a few hours is easier said than done, but what is with people using the tray table as a foot rest? Sure, you have to be under 5’7 to be able to bend that way (or.. maybe not?) but time and time again I notice passengers with their shoes and socks off resting their bare feet on the tray table. There’s a few things wrong with this. First, though you might put your feet on your coffee table at home, you’re not at home. You are “renting” a seat for a designated period of time to get from point A to point B. Further, your tray table is lucky if its cleaned once a day, usually at night while the plane RONs (remains overnight), but some planes fly days on end without ever spending enough time on the ground to get a deep cleaning. So, imagine someone before you used their tray table to rest their feet on, now, you get to eat off of that same tray table one hour later. Gross, huh? Every time I come across a passenger doing this I politely ask them to remove their feet and remind them that people eat off of the tray tables.

The next area of concern revolves around the restroom, or “the lav” as we refer to it. I think passengers forget that they’re on an airplane when they walk into the lav. The lav should be treated the same as any public restroom in the world.. there’s nothing different; except for the fact you’re at 35,000 feet. Before entering the lav please make sure your shoes are on! At least once per flight someone walks into the restroom with their shoes off (I don’t even want to think that those feet will later end up on a tray table). What you think is water on the floor, probably isn’t, and the flight attendants don’t have to clean it up. Second, most forget to lock the door. I don’t know why. I still don’t understand this. If you don’t lock the door the indicator light will continue to show that the lav is vacant and a crew member or fellow passenger may open the door. For flight attendant’s though, there is a bit of amusement when someone walks in on you. And, yes, I have accidentally walked in on people. Once the door is locked and your shoes are on please don’t forget to flush! Yes, a computer might fly the airplane, but one doesn’t flush the toilet. There’s usually a lever or a button which says, you guessed it, “push,” which triggers the vacuum.

For those folks traveling with their children, my last observation involves both the lav and the tray table. Under no circumstances is it permissible to change your baby’s diaper on the empty seat near you or… on a tray table. This is the equivalent of you changing a diaper on your couch or on the kitchen table. The lav is the only place where doing such an act will be permitted. Additionally, placing soiled diapers in the seat back pocket waiting for the flight attendant to come around to collect trash is also not allowed. A soiled diaper is a bio hazard, therefore it shouldn’t be disposed of in a normal trash bag (or handled without gloves by a flight attendant) and stored with our regular trash, it should be disposed of in a lavatory trash bin only, by you.

In the end pretend that the airplane is a hotel room that you’re sharing with 149 other people. Keep your personal needs private and keep the public areas clean and respectful. Practicing common sense and proper travel etiquette will allow everyone the ability to coexist comfortably for the duration of the flight.

Bobby Laurie

Bobby Laurie, author of the book Planely Speaking and television travel correspondent, currently works as a Flight Attendant at a low-cost airline and as a freelance journalist. After graduating from the Pennsylvania College of Technology with a degree in Mass Media Communication, Bobby combined his passion for both journalism and travel by writing about the travel industry through his insider knowledge and personal experiences. You can read Bobby's blog about being a flight attendant and the airline industry by visiting UpUpAndAGay.com.

9 Comments

1 year ago
Alan
Sheesh, and I thought I’ve seen some crazy things on flights. Walking into the bathroom with no shoes?!

That’s just…wrong.

1 year ago
Carey
ROTFL!!! Great post! I did a post about this myself over a year ago…here’s the link.

http://thetometraveller.blogspot.com/2009/04/word-about-airplane-bathrooms.html

Can never figure out why people feel compelled to try to open the lav door with the rectangular ASH TRAY in the middle of the door. No, that round handle at waist level on the right could not possibly be a DOOR KNOB like you see everywhere else in the world…must be different on a space ship, I mean airplane.

1 year ago
Unexpected Traveller
Ever since I started travelling frequently a year or so ago, I have a new-found respect for FAs and their job – it cannot be easy and while I’m sure I can do the job, I doubt that I can handle all of those odd people on a regular basis!

I recall one flight of mine where I would have been caught off guard: http://wp.me/ppqxP-lS

1 year ago
Bobby Laurie
Carey, I never understood that myself! They just stare at the door like it’s going to scan their retina to grant them access. It cracks me up!

1 year ago
Someone
Glad this stuff happens at other lcc’s and not just mine.

1 year ago
jetstream1981
Oh all soooo true!!

I also am amazed when I see PAX resting their feet on jumpseats! I politely ask them not to as it isn’t nice for the poor person who has to sit there, and that if they break it the aircraft will be grounded, and they don’t want the repair bill!!

1 year ago
Chris C. Ducker
This had me chuckling…

Thanks!

Chris

1 year ago
UpperLevel
As a customer service employee for one of the majors we have likewise heard it many times that “passengers check their brains with the baggage at the ticket counter”…….however, ask us at the ticket counter or gates,…..I can tell you they check their brains at the curb. There are still many, many novice travelers and with the world getting “smaller” and so many foreigners passing through, it is little wonder people act so ignorantly. What does it take for people to use basic manners and common sense ?….a question I have yet to have answered in 30+ years in this industry.

1 year ago
J.T. Wenting
“What does it take for people to use basic manners and common sense ?….”

you mean you think most people have those? I’ve given up all hope of that long ago.

As to why people do what they do on aircraft, it’s simple: they’ve paid a lot of money (yes, it’s often not a lot compared with days gone by, but for many people paying $500 for an aircraft ticket is a lot of money) for that seat, and they feel they have a right to be comfortable in it for that money (I don’t blame them).
If airlines want to make people sit still and not try to make themselves comfortable in weird ways, they should provide more comfortable seats with more legroom (and yes, I know that’ll cost, it will add weight and reduce the number of seats in the cabin).
We’re now down to 29″ of legroom in economy class on a lot of airlines (down from 32″ a few years ago, 35″ in the 1980s), with seats that are becoming bulkier all the time with all the added “entertainment systems” in the backrests, so effective legroom is down even more than the 7″ it looks on paper to have gone down (and 7′ is a lot, that’s more than the thickness of most peoples’ legs).

With the ever more insane “security checks”, people are also irritated by the time they get to the gate.
When they get there, they get more irritated because of interminable delays with no decent information whatsoever from the airline.
I’ve in 2008 had to wait 6 hours for a delayed flight with no information whatsoever about the reason for the delay or how long it was thought it would take, all we got for 6 hours was gate change upon gate change, until in the end the flight was listed as departing from 2 gates at the same time, about 100 meters apart. While extreme, it does show what people have to put up with in one degree or another before they get on board almost at a daily basis.

And quite a few flight attendants tend to be rude as well, or at least appear so to those who’re not in the customer service industry.
Brusque, single word answers, no smiles, seemingly unreasonable demands (I know many of them are the law, like telling people to shut down their iPods during the safety briefing, but most people do not and don’t understand the reasoning when they’re told “it’s the law, now put it away or I’ll have you removed”), and then you want a cup of decaf and are told “we’re all out. but I can get you a mocha”.

Flightster