Airplane Etiquette...

On Tuesday afternoon I returned home from a two-week holiday in the US and, while it feels good to be back in my apartment in Frösunda, I feel a little homesick. That being said, as much as I miss the US, I don't miss some of the people. There was a certain level of rudeness and narrow-mindedness that I encountered while Stateside that drove me insane. Some of the rudeness can be attributed to the stress of living in a big city; a lot of it was just plain arrogance and ignorance. But that's another post.

What really got my goat was something that happened on the way home.

My flight to the US was great. I was seated next to a lovely older woman named Gail from New Jersey who was on her way home from having visited Norway. We chatted for a while about her vacation in Scandinavia--she'd been there several times in the past and loved the stark beauty of the Norwegian coast and the people she'd met. I was seated by the window; she was in the aisle seat.

One of the first things that Gail said to me once we'd fastened our seat belts was that I should just let her know--even if she was sleeping--if I needed to stand to stretch or go to the bathroom. I thought that was nice of her, especially since I am one of those people who like to stretch while I am flying just so I don't get swollen feet, etc. True to her word, the three or four times I needed to leave my seat, she stood and let me get up without seeming annoyed that I was disturbing her. It's one of the things one must accept if one chooses to sit in the aisle seat.

By the end of the flight, I felt like Gail and I, through our chats about Scandinavia and living in the the Philadelphia area, etc had managed to become pretty good travel buddies. We even chatted as we waited for our luggage.

Sadly, the same cannot be said for the woman whom I sat beside on my way home from the US. When I boarded my London-bound flight, I realized I was going to have to sit beside a woman who didn't like being "disturbed". She glared at me when she found out I was in the window seat. She huffed and puffed and behaved like it was a chore for her to stand up so that I could get to my seat. Three hours into the flight, when I needed to use the facilities, her huffing and puffing and rolling her eyes were enough that I wondered if she'd paid for two seats so she could have space but British Airways had only allotted her one. I offered to switch seats with her and explained that I would probably need to get up a few more times to stretch and to use the bathroom. She refused and said, "I want the aisle seat. I wouldn't have booked it if I didn't want it."

Fair enough. But if you're going to sit in the aisle seat, then you shouldn't behave like the person sitting beside you is being unreasonable if they need to stand up or leave their seat. During the 6.5-hour flight, she never left her seat to use the facilities--so there was no way I could leave mine without waking her up or tapping her on the shoulder to ask if she could stand up. At one point, she griped that I was beginning "to be a pain".

Hmm. Well, I ignored her but it started to annoy me that I was being perceived as a pain simply because I needed to use the toilet. I drink a lot of water when I am on long-haul flights because I want to stay hydrated. I need to stand. I like to do the Wellness stretch program that British Airways advises all its passengers to follow when they are on long flights. And considering that I usually only leave my seat three or four times, I don't see how that can abnormal. I think it's more abnormal when people never leave their seats. It makes me wonder if they would rather pee on themselves than use a public toilet.

So here's a piece of advice to any of you who are planning on taking a long-haul flight: if you don't want to be disturbed by someone who needs to stand during a flight, don't ask for an aisle seat. And you might want to consider sharing your common armrest with the person sitting beside you. The woman I sat next to on my London-bound flight wouldn't share the armrest at all.

Now I know--next time I fly to the US or to any destination that will take longer longer than three hours to reach--I will book an aisle seat.