Tagged: etiquette

My Latest Economy Class Observations Are Disturbing

Many Economy Class passengers don’t realise they are doing annoying, disgusting and disrespectful things. Here are some beauties I just observed from my little corner of Economy Class on a couple of long-haul flights (out of six I did over a three week period). Just after meal time When the person in front of you reclines their seat before you have finished your meal. That’s happened to me and I made sure the person in front of me understood this. I tapped him on the shoulder and repeated several times not to assume the person behind has finished their meal. Just because you are not eating it doesn’t mean everyone else has also done so. The right thing to do is to look around...

Hotel Etiquette

When staying at someone else’s house, perhaps a relative’s or friend’s place, do you respect the house rules? Do you behave accordingly? As a guest you will follow a few rules. Some are written, others are just commonsense but they are all rules a person with some decency would respect. These are the same kind of rules you would expect at home, so why can’t staying in hotels be the same for a few? We’ve already seen how bad etiquette can impact air travel so I thought let’s explore what is good and bad etiquette while staying at a hotel or other accommodation. Logically we’ll start and finish at the hotel door, checking-in and checking-out. Lobby and Front Desk First contact; where it is...

Air Travel Etiquette: Some Basic Rules

To me etiquette, in the context of air travel, starts way before getting on board the plane. It starts as soon as you enter the airport terminal. Good etiquette alleviates frustration, anger and conflict. Issues that have become more common with air travel. What is etiquette? Etiquette is basically a code of conduct, an unwritten set of rules that govern behaviour and social interactions. Principles such as: respect, kindness and consideration, or the proper and polite way to behave are the mainstay of etiquette, but also decorum, manners and attitude play their part. Applying etiquette to air travel I suppose like in any situation where one has to interact with others in a comunal setting certain rules need to apply. So before stepping into...

Bare Feet Etiquette On Planes

Shoes off…socks off…and where do bare feet end up? Armrests, backs off seats, tray tables, bulkheads, toilet floors… A practice that can be disgusting and a nuisance. In Business and First Class you are fine. You are your own boss there. In Economy it may be a whole lot different if you’re sharing seats with others. If you believe your feet are clean, that’s good. Then keeping them under the seat in front should be the sensible thing to do. If you are lucky enough to have three or four seats to yourself, perfect. You lie down and cover them up with a blanket, offending others will disappear. Armrests also protected. If socks are worn, even better. People will like you a lot more...