[Rutting Elephant]

(08-27-2014 09:44 AM)memcpy Wrote:  

I also noticed that Japanese Air-stewardess where very accommodating and they would at least put on a fake smile (which they are trained to do). Customs was a breeze.

When coming back to America I noticed that the stewardess had a bitch-look to their face like they where pissed off about their job.

Then the American-guy flight attendant actually yelled at a passenger because they couldn't understand something. Upon stepping off the plane at ALTANLTA INT. we where greeted by 2 police officers who randomly flagged people and asked for I.D. I overheard the guy, "Why?"
"Don't ask why, show us your passport," the police officer said.
I just kept walking.

While waiting to be proceeded we were then greeted by dogs sniffing our bags. Even I was getting irritated by the time I got my bags.

I am American, and I find American customs/immigration/Homeland Security to be the biggest assholes of their trade. The one friendly exception was also irritating, as after I tersely explained my long sojourn in Indonesia to be due to a girlfriend, he went on for a full twenty minutes chatting about how he brought his Asian wife over and how to do it, down to recommending a specific lawyer. Every other passenger had moved to another line and I was the last of hundreds to leave the area.
Where do they find these people?

[YossariansRight]

(08-27-2014 09:58 AM)Rutting Elephant Wrote:  

(08-27-2014 09:44 AM)memcpy Wrote:  

I also noticed that Japanese Air-stewardess where very accommodating and they would at least put on a fake smile (which they are trained to do). Customs was a breeze.

When coming back to America I noticed that the stewardess had a bitch-look to their face like they where pissed off about their job.

Then the American-guy flight attendant actually yelled at a passenger because they couldn't understand something. Upon stepping off the plane at ALTANLTA INT. we where greeted by 2 police officers who randomly flagged people and asked for I.D. I overheard the guy, "Why?"
"Don't ask why, show us your passport," the police officer said.
I just kept walking.

While waiting to be proceeded we were then greeted by dogs sniffing our bags. Even I was getting irritated by the time I got my bags.

I am American, and I find American customs/immigration/Homeland Security to be the biggest assholes of their trade. The one friendly exception was also irritating, as after I tersely explained my long sojourn in Indonesia to be due to a girlfriend, he went on for a full twenty minutes chatting about how he brought his Asian wife over and how to do it, down to recommending a specific lawyer. Every other passenger had moved to another line and I was the last of hundreds to leave the area.
Where do they find these people?

Fucking rudest of rude assholes. Embarrassments to this country. I just got back from Europe the other night and I was expecting the next sounds from these wannabe commandants mouths to be: "Men to the right, women and children to the left...SCHNELL SIE HUNDE!!!"

[Chaos]

Don't get me started about Ryanair..

[OnlyMarryInTajikistan]

Game has immunized me from even noticing these things.

I have received so many shit-tests and general disrespect that something as meager as the waiter not smiling or the stewardess being a bit blunt just doesn't show up on my radar. You literally don't notice.

[Drazen]

(08-27-2014 03:02 AM)Global_Cocksman Wrote:  

(08-26-2014 10:10 PM)Drazen Wrote:  

My biggest pet peeve is when you land and are about to deplane, the little sound beeps to let you know you can stand up and people in the back push their way to the front like its a race.

I don't know about you, but I like to get the hell out of a plane ASAP as soon as it lands. Especially after a 10+ hour flight.

I don't want to linger and wait around behind fat and old people who take 20+ minutes to take a bag out of the overhead.

Its not lingering, its just exiting the plane in an orderly fashion. Having people jam to the front, wedging themselves and pushing people who are trying to just get their bags slows it down for everyone.

Generally, the old, fat and handicapped people who know they're going to be slow wait until most of the plane gets off, at least in my experience.

To me, not being able to wait reasonably and deplane row by row is the height of passenger rudeness on a plane. Often there isn't room to move, but those that do still manage to barrel through the aisleways.

In my experiences, the biggest offenders of doing this are often older asian or mexican ladies.

[zatara]

The worst behaviour I've seen was when I was on a half empty overnight flight from ORD to LHR a few years ago. Some jackass on the flight (old enough to know better too, around 40) was hammered and causing a scene. He was first told off by the people sitting around him for being noisy, then they moved seats. He then proceeded to throw food around the cabin at his now further away neighbours, until the cabin crew told him to stop. He then started shouting again and kept throwing food like a toddler, insisting 'WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO'. Eventually, thankfully, he passed out.

When we touched down in LHR there were three cops waiting on the jetway who threw cuffs on him and escorted him off the plane. Seeing him waking up, no doubt with an awful hangover, to deal with that was possibly the best feeling of schadenfreude I've ever gotten on touchdown after a 9 hour long haul flight.

In general though I find flying longhaul means you avoid the worst class of seatmates, most of the time at least. If you want real horror try flying from the UK to Spain in summertime. Being stuck on a plane with 90 chavs for 3 hours is an experience you won't soon forget.

[Rutting Elephant]

(08-27-2014 11:55 AM)zatara Wrote:  

If you want real horror try flying from the UK to Spain in summertime. Being stuck on a plane with 90 chavs for 3 hours is an experience you won't soon forget.

They arrive in Ibiza already hung over? Don't they end up wasting half their vacation feeling like crap?

[Sp5]

When I was a public defender, I was assigned sometimes to a court with an international airport in its district.

We'd get assigned for bail arguments for guys who had flipped out on flights but not seriously enough for the feds to prosecute, just handed over to local police for a state disorderly person charge.

One time, there was a hungover German guy in the holding cell. After I read the police report, which involved him going wild on a transatlantic flight, I went up to the cell and greeted him, "Willkommen in Amerika, Herr [Schmidt]." He just groaned.

[DChambers]

* Delete

[kaotic]

Hey good news is:

You can fly Malaysian airlines without all these problems

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/...ws-4114263

[Quintus Curtius]

Singapore Airlines (if you can afford them) has flight attendants who are all attractive, educated women. They even have "weight limit guidelines" for the women. If you grow out of those measurements, you grow out of a job. It's that simple.

[Roosh]

I had a flight from Moscow to Sibera (S7 airlines). Completely packed flight. I get an aisle seat next to a heavily drunk Russian guy wearing Adidas sweatpants and a ivy cap. His equally drunk friend took the window seat. The friend fell asleep while the guy next to me kept demanding water from the stewardesses by pushing the call button and making loud "Ahhhh" sounds after he was done and added a super long хорошо! (good!). I was scared he was going to pee himself but even after 15 or so cups he never used the bathroom. I'm not sure where that water went. He would fall asleep on his friend and get up suddenly with a jerk, not sure where he was. He'd yell randomly and sometimes try to talk to me and when I couldn't respond he would give off a "Aaaarrrgh" type of sound and wave me off with his hand. Most people slept on the four hour flight but I was quite alert throughout.

[Carlos100]

(08-26-2014 09:59 PM)Mac Chicken Wrote:  

I booked a seat at the entrance of the economic class right after you pass the curtain which separate from the business class.

You have no one in front of you and the space for the legs is slightly bigger especially if you are on the aisle side.

One thing to remember is that airlines often assign people with babies to these rows, because they hang a bassinet on the bulkhead in front of them. Passengers with small children, not babies, are also often assigned to these rows. After experiencing this several times on flights between the US and Japan, I now no longer try to get a seat in this row.

I have noticed a difference in airline travel recently, but mainly on American carriers. Because most flights are now almost full, and because the American airlines have packed in so many seats onto their planes, passengers are much more tense and irritable than they used to be. The flight attendants, of course, pick up on this tension and it makes them edgy and distant.

A trick I use that works for me on almost every flight, even short ones, is to carry a box of cookies or chocolates in my carry-on. After I find my seat, I ask the nearest flight attendant if I can talk to the head attendant for the flight. Then, I give him/her the box and tell them to please share with the entire flight crew. This trick has never gotten me upgraded (and there are several reasons why, from what I understand), but it has gotten me tons of other perks and extra-attentive service from the attendants. The perks have included bringing be food and drinks from the business or first-class cabin, free alcohol, travel kits that they usually only give to the premium passengers, moved to seats with more room, coming by every few minutes to see if I needed anything, and, on one occasion, the attendant tried to hook me up with one of the other attendants (I didn't think she was attractive so I didn't pursue it).

[Parlay44]

Planes are now mass transit. They're just big buses with wings. Every poor scumbag can afford to fly these days. That's why they created first class ...to shield the all important people from the cattle.

[Tuthmosis]

(08-27-2014 05:09 PM)Roosh Wrote:  

хорошо!

Sounds like you sat next to this guy:

   

[unbowed]

A typical transatlantic flight for me involves:
- drunks who keep walking up and down the aisle to get more mini shots
- fatties who need to pay for double or triple seats
- screeching babies who raise your blood pressure despite having noise canceling ear plugs
- stewardesses who sit in the back and gossip to each other, voices echoing down the aisle (British Airways, middle aged women who said "I KNEEEEOOOOOWWWW" in the most grating vocal fry ever. I wanted to duct tape their mouths shut.)
- college aged kids laughing hysterically at their mini-TVs while spastically rocking their chairs.
- terrible smelling snacks. Once 2 hippies were munching on curry chips. The stench was so nauseating I was waiting for the oxygen masks to fall into our laps.

And my personal favorite:
- Broken airplanes that ruin any chance of making connecting flight, causing mass chaos and crankiness at the terminal. And then the PSA constantly thanking us for our patience as we have no idea what's going on for hours on end.

My SAS flight from London was pretty bad with 4 screaming kids on both sides of the plane while the businessman next to me had the worst nervous tick ever, randomly jerking his legs and arms the whole flight causing me to toss my book in frustration. The alcohol only made him worse.

Best experience has been with Lufthansa. Coach has spacious leather seats. Attendants are professional and courteous. The entire plane was silent. Little kids were well behaved while reading 800 page books. Old timers were writing in their journals. However nothing felt stifled. Everyone was respectful of each other and the entire journey was smooth sailing.

As a default, every time I enter some form of communal transportation I prepare for hell. Should I have a pleasant experience, I'll be quite happy for the rest of the day.

[Mac Chicken]

This thread reminds me this video.

[Quintus Curtius]

This is what it feels like now when I board the airplane. Literally.

[WalterBlack]

In answer to the OP, I can't say I find people more or less rude over the years.

Japanese customer service is awesome. I flew to Tokyo about 6 months ago from LAX via ANA. I had a luggage trolley with my suitcase on it. Normally when you check in luggage, you take your suitcase off the trolley, check in your suitcase and then you take the trolley back to a trolley collection point. After I checked in at ANA, I turned around and the trolley was gone – one of the Japanese staff took it to the place where it was supposed to be.
-------------------------
I was flying to UK on British Airways, and the plane wasn’t full. I was sitting in the middle section and I asked if I could move the window section since it was there were about 10 empty seats . I was told that I would have to pay about GBP 70 (USD $112) extra to sit there.
-------------------------
Another time I was flying to UK from LAX, I chose a seat next to the aisle so I can get out easily in case I need to use the restroom. I walk on the plane, and there’s a fucking Indian FOB sitting in my seat! I looked at him and said, “I’m in seat 38G”..this motherfucker looks at me, and points to the seat to him. I thought, fuck this, I paid over $1000 for this seat, I’m gonna let some arsehole take my seat. I looked at him and said in a very pissed off way, “That’s my seat”! Then he crapped himself and moved. The fucker got his revenge on me cos he took off shoes later on in the flight and his feet stank.

[Dusty]

A couple experiences I had on airplanes in the past year or so where I felt a little bad after, and some of you could probably think I acted like a dick, but fuck other people's ineptitude should not inconvenience me.

1. I had a Southwest flight I had to board. They don't have assigned seats, so its everyone for themselves. I saw a lot of fatties in the waiting area, so my blood pressure was up (fucking hate having a fatty pressed up against me for 2 hours). So we board, and of course the aisle and window seats fill up first. I keep going down the aisle until I get to the very last row, and there is the final aisle seat available and I take it and feel relieved. The only remaining seats left were middle seats. Some women comes up and asks me to move because she is traveling with her little kid and they need to sit next to each other. I told her that she should have made arrangements with Southwest beforehand. I also said I heard them make announcements while we were waiting that people with small children could board first, so she should have done that. She said I should move. I said I'm not going to sit in a middle seat due to her poor planning. She said what is she suppose to do then. I said why do you assume your problem is now mine to solve? I told her to talk to the flight attendant and she left in a huff.

2. I'm waiting in line for security. They have multiple TSA stations to check your boarding pass and ID after the first single line, it splits into several lines for the X ray machines. I have this older couple in front of me. I see the wife is a lallygagger. Her lack of urgency on getting through the line is annoying me. She has too many bags, and she is stopping to fish through stuff and so on, and keeping the line from moving. She seems clueless about traveling and has no concern for getting through quickly and efficiently. After I get through the first line and in line for the Xray, I notice the husband ends up in front of me and she ends up behind me. I think, well at least she is behind me because she would drive me mad with all those bags, and she is doing nothing to take her shoes off and take things out of her pocket to speed up the process. Slow poke. She taps me on the shoulder "excuse me, can I get in front of you so I can be next to my husband?" I was in no mood to wait and stew behind her while she lallygags plus I had to catch my flight. I said "it won't make a difference you have to wait on the other side for him regardless." She said "yeah, but I want to be next to him so can you let me in front of you?" I said "well, you can ask him to move behind me just as easy and then you can be together right?" She just looked at me clueless and says "yes, but he is in front of you and won't want to give up his spot in line." I didn't move for her and ignored her from there on.

[Quintus Curtius]

^^^
@Dusty:

Well handled. I think you did just right. That's the type of attitude you need sometimes in life.


On an unrelated note, one of the things that really pisses me off about flying to and from Brazil is the lackadaisical attitude that they have about boarding flights.

You know how you have Zone 1, Zone 2, Zone 3, etc., right? Well, zones are supposed to board in order. But of course, when you get a crowd of Brazilians together--bless their souls--there is no concept of organization. All the zones board in one big mob, and even if you've got a preferential zone due to your flying seniority, it amounts to jack squat.

I don't know why they can't fix this. I guess it's cultural.

[Beirut]

On flights going back to Beirut i always have one long term emigrant coming back who starts screaming out loud how much he loves Lebanon, and how its the best country in the world, and starts telling his life story to the entire plane. It would be charming if they didn't expect constant acknowledgement and attention.

And they always clap when the plane lands.

I've had very bad experiences with indian travelers to be honest (never transit from Dubai for that reason). One time this one guy drops food on me from his tray 5 times. Im not a confrontational guy but by the fifth i was boiling and snapped at him.

ANother time and this was my worst, an indian family with 3 very annoying children are around me. The kids would not stop crying, but hey that happens. Now one of the boys, around 4 years old i guess, has to go to the bathroom. They go and stay forever. I don't know what he did there but the flight attendants came and sealed that bathroom after. Apparently he took a shit all over the place there.

Now his mom has him outside, with his pants off, and his wiping his ass in front of us. They come back, he still has his pants off, and starts moving around me and coming in contact with me. I hold him off several times, speak english, ask his parent to hold him, to no avail. Finally i have to hold him off a bit more roughly which leads to a confrontation.

ANother attendant comes and naturally she's more sympathetic to the family, i don't even want to bother explaining but luckily the attendant who sealed the bathroom notices and explains the situation and they moved me to an empty seat in the back.

[TheBulldozer]

A lot of these problems can be avoided by reading the entirety of Global Entry's frequent traveler thread.

[Arirang]

I think it may have to do something with how rude America is in general. Airlines treat their customers like shit, customs and immigration are rude and time-consuming, TSA is an affront to personal dignity, etc. Only when returning to the US am I asked bullshit questions. What gets me is that admitting a US citizen to the country isn't a discretionary action on the part of the CBP. Recent example, Question: "Why do you have so many Chinese stamps in your passport?" Answer: "I go to China a lot." And this after an 11 hour flight and I can't sleep on airplanes, no matter how long the trip. This is so infuriating because no matter what answer any US citizen gives to the question, even if it was admission to a crime, the CBP guy would still have to admit him, so the questions are in every case pointless. I have never been asked anything at all when crossing other borders even though they do have the discretion to deny me admission because I'm a foreigner, only in US and Canada. You can even rate the helpfulness of the passport checkers in China with a computerized device at each check-in kiosk. No matter where you're arriving, however, you want to get the fuck off the airplane stat and get to customs before fat and stupid Americans get there and slow everything down.

[MY DETROIT PLAYAS]

The last time I flew (last month), I had the extreme misfortune of grabbing a window seat on the wing

Some obnoxious lady plopped down beside me with the reekiest corned beef sandwich chop full of onions

Only got worst as she wanted to get gabby as she leaned into me to peer out of the window at the skyline

I hid my head in a magazine, then when the stench became unbearable I ripped out a piece of gum and looked at her until she laughed and sheepishly accepted the stick

Same trip, changed planes in ATL. Another dumbass idea - window seat

This time I was damn near plastered against the window as two calorically challenged Australian chicks stationed themselves next to me.

@Mac Chicken advise well-taken