[Quintus Curtius]

I don't think I'm alone in noticing that the level of douchbaggery, hostility, and angst on airplanes is going up.

The shit that pisses me off on airline travel are these things (in no particular order):

* Flight attendants are either gay or rude bitches

* Too many screaming undisciplined kids

* People who don't understand that "carry on bag" means a small bag

* People who dress like disheveled bums

* Fat people

* Chinese who talk too loud

* Indians who walk around in their socks


There's a new device you can buy called the "Knee Defender" that permits you to disable the passenger in front of you from reclining their seat. Personally I think that's bullshit, but maybe others disagree.

All right. Check out this story of a fight that broke out on an airplane. A guy tried to use the Knee Defender device, and the woman in front of him threw water in his face.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014...ining-seat

(Of course, the woman was not prosecuted for the assault).

Feel free to use this thread to discuss your stories about airline passenger fuckery, and strategies to avoid it.



Q

[Mac Chicken]

What I do to avoid seat reclining, is going to check in online 24 hours before the flight.

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.

[Brodiaga]

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

What I do to avoid seat reclining, is going to check in online 24 hours before the flight.

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.

These cunts, most airlines that is, sell them for a premium now.

[Mac Chicken]

(08-26-2014 10:01 PM)Brodiaga Wrote:  

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

What I do to avoid seat reclining, is going to check in online 24 hours before the flight.

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.

These cunts, most airlines that is, sell them for a premium now.

Yes, they sold it if it is next to the emergency exit.

However the one which are just in front of a kind a wall to separate the two classes are free. This is the one right at the entrance of the economic class.

[Drazen]

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.

[Rutting Elephant]

The last time I flew long-haul economy, it was a Singapore-Frankfurt-Newark flight, and the guy next to me in the aisle seat was a fat slob, who I guessed was from Laos or Thailand given the script used in his tattoos. Thankfully, the middle seat was unoccupied and I was at the window. He spent most of both segments continually summoning the stewardess to get him whiskey and cokes, while between these drinks he was polishing off a liter bottle of duty free liquor, pouring it surreptitiously down low to avoid the notice of the crew. Whatever, as long as he keeps it together.

He couldn't. With two or three hours left on the flight, the woman in front of him reclined her seat, further back than he found comfortable. There are several reactions to this that would qualify as polite -- but no, he punches the fuck out of the back of the seat at head level, putting his whole body into it, then grabs the top corners and starts shaking it. They exchange some words, and the woman complains to the crew, who succeed in calming the guy down. In the process, her seat ends up upright again. But the female passenger (who I later learned was Israeli) had to make her point, and abruptly reclines it again. Now the guy wails on the back of her seat with redoubled fury, with some ungrammatical cursing in English which I wish I could remember, because it was really funny. The male flight attendant is summoned, and after moving the guy to another seat comes back with a notepad to ask me questions. When I mentioned the duty-free he rolled his eyes. I hope they banned him from the airline.

[iknowexactly]

To contrast, my flight LAX-Tokyo I was next to a Japanese woman with two young children. They were playful but not shrieking or hostile, charming actually.

However, she continually apologized if they infringed on my space at all, and it was really pleasant to deal with her.

The American glorification of "attitude", a code word for arrogant rudeness, meanness and overconfidence by the mediocre, is disgusting.

[samsamsam]

(08-26-2014 09:43 PM)Quintus Curtius Wrote:  

All right. Check out this story of a fight that broke out on an airplane. A guy tried to use the Knee Defender device, and the woman in front of him threw water in his face.

I would probably get into it if someone pulled that shit on me. The only seats that down recline are in the emergency exit. If I was denied the full use of the product I paid for, I might throw some punches if the guy was a dick. I mean, he shouldn't have a gun or any other weapons, so just have fast my hands fly before I get subdued. This is all hypothetical.

[Quintus Curtius]

@samsamsam:

Yeah, I got to agree with you there. If you pay for a seat, you should be able to use it as it was designed to be used. I never understood why people get miffed about someone reclining their seat. I could care less.

And if some little fuck used a "Knee Defender" to prevent me from reclining my seat, I'd probably ask the flight attendant to have it removed.

[Quintus Curtius]

(08-26-2014 10:19 PM)Rutting Elephant Wrote:  

The last time I flew long-haul economy, it was a Singapore-Frankfurt-Newark flight, and the guy next to me in the aisle seat was a fat slob, who I guessed was from Laos or Thailand given the script used in his tattoos. Thankfully, the middle seat was unoccupied and I was at the window. He spent most of both segments continually summoning the stewardess to get him whiskey and cokes, while between these drinks he was polishing off a liter bottle of duty free liquor, pouring it surreptitiously down low to avoid the notice of the crew. Whatever, as long as he keeps it together.

He couldn't. With two or three hours left on the flight, the woman in front of him reclined her seat, further back than he found comfortable. There are several reactions to this that would qualify as polite -- but no, he punches the fuck out of the back of the seat at head level, putting his whole body into it, then grabs the top corners and starts shaking it. They exchange some words, and the woman complains to the crew, who succeed in calming the guy down. In the process, her seat ends up upright again. But the female passenger (who I later learned was Israeli) had to make her point, and abruptly reclines it again. Now the guy wails on the back of her seat with redoubled fury, with some ungrammatical cursing in English which I wish I could remember, because it was really funny. The male flight attendant is summoned, and after moving the guy to another seat comes back with a notepad to ask me questions. When I mentioned the duty-free he rolled his eyes. I hope they banned him from the airline.

This is just epic....epic.

[travolta]

I avoid such issues by flying business class. Guys, make more money and you won't have to care about petty stuff like this.

[Rutting Elephant]

(08-26-2014 11:49 PM)travolta Wrote:  

I avoid such issues by flying business class. Guys, make more money and you won't have to care about petty stuff like this.

You don't own a plane? Big baller troll fail.

[samsamsam]

I just don't like how people don't pay attention to where pats of their body and possessions contact another person.

If you got a big bag be fucking careful when you move it around.

Moving your feet and legs and arms around in your seat, don't fucking bump me and if you do acknowledge it by saying, "excuse me or sorry."

I try to behave the way I expect others to behave.

One day some asshole brushed pretzel dust off his tray without thinking where it was going, it got over my legs (I was wearing shorts), I commented and he said he was sorry. Did he think it was just going to vaporize once it went off the tray?

I have flown plenty of business and first and the pricks are even bigger up there. The attitudes are terrible, somehow some people think they should get their asses washed while they are sitting in the front of the plane.

[Sp5]

Longhaul - 10 mg valium after check-in, cocoon against the bulkhead in a window seat.

[jumbo tron]

I work at a major airport and have noticed this a lot.

In my opinion some reasons for this include:

Budget airlines-some people can treat it like catching a bus and behave and dress accordingly, are unorganised and when they get poor service they react badly. I have flown Jetstar and Air Asia several times for short haul international and they have been fine. I have found its best to be organised, have contingency plans, realistic expectations and ensuring connections that aren't to tight. Pack light, take my own snacks so I barely have to interact with anyone if I smell an idiot.

Although a lot of us travel regularly, a lot of people don't and stress out when things don't go smoothly.

I've thought for along time that no alcohol should be provided on aircraft. I'm happy to forego my right to enjoy a cold one on board but the amount of fuckwittery I see just could be avoided with no grog.

But that wont stop old mate ripping into his duty free like the example above.

And after all that, when staff and other passengers are threatened and at risk, rarely I have seen a passenger banned by the airline company. Like that douchebag's repeat $70 fare is worth the trouble.

And they fill them up with grog in the airline lounges which exacerbates the problem.

[Global_Cocksman]

(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.

[Suits]

I enjoy flying, even if everyone around me is a dick.

While my 40+ flight experience has gotta look like small peanuts to any regular business travels, I am self-satisfied that it puts me ahead of the general public.

When the plane finishes taxi-ing and everyone tries to rush off, I sit back, smile and relax.

No one seems to clue in that getting off the damn plane in a hurry isn't going to stop them from waiting 40 minutes plus for their checked luggage to hit the conveyor.

I wear a suit on every flight, try to make the flight attendant's lives easier and invest heavily in the on-board entertainment features.

[DChambers]

I agree with most of the above posts. I fly have flown every 3-6 months for the past 10 years and there has been a marked decline in the experience of air travel. The best airline I ever went on was MartinAir based out of Holland, they used to give you a full meal during your flight, sadly they stopped running the line.

There does seem to be an increased rudeness, lots of getting stuck next to fat people who smell like fried chicken, and drunks on the planes compared to what there used to be.

I haul ass out of a plane as soon as I can, especially if I am traveling alone. I have no desire to get stuck in the back of a line waiting for Immigration and Customs.

[The Beast1]

I always enjoy flying. My trick? Aisle seat with a MJ edible consumed right before I go through security. Always a pleasurable flight.

I'd go freak out on a guy using a knee defender. Sorry but I paid for the right to recline the seat 5*.

[Que enspastic]

I've never really noticed rudeness on flights. Must have been lucky so far.

[Atlantic]

I cant really complain - I have a bad habit of drifting into other peoples seats when I fall asleep.

I woke up about three inches from an asian girls face (she was window seat) who was too shy to wake me up when I starting spooning her at a 45 degree angle from my middle seat. I also sleep talk quite a bit and do that jump awake thing sometimes.

[Phoenix]

(08-26-2014 10:23 PM)iknowexactly Wrote:  

To contrast, my flight LAX-Tokyo I was next to a Japanese woman with two young children. They were playful but not shrieking or hostile, charming actually.

However, she continually apologized if they infringed on my space at all, and it was really pleasant to deal with her.

Sounds about right. Being a dick just never got any cultural traction in Japan.

Regarding Airplane passenger rudeness: no I have not noticed any rise or fall.

[Chaos]

I've had xxx amount of flights and there are only two things that pisses me off.

1. Sitting next to obese people who would need two seats for their asses.
2. Little children who are screaming relentlessly and the parents got no control of them.

Best experience is with Etihad.
I had a 14,5 hours flight from Abu Dhabi to Melbourne. At the airport I went to the counter girl and asked if it was possible to upgrade because i'm so tired and streched my legs and pretended to be super tall.

She said no. But she reserved a middle row each for my mate and me. 4 or 5 seats each. Rest of the plane were packed. During takeoff a lot of people were staring on our empty rows and wanted to move over. As soon as we were in the air and it switched to green light I intook horizontal position and slept for 10 hours. Better than business class.

God save Etihad Airways.

[pitt]

British airways wins in terms of rudeness. Every time I used to fly with them, I always used to argue with one of them flight assistants, even when I was flying first class.I stopped flying with them long time ago.

[memcpy]

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 processed we were then greeted by dogs sniffing our bags. Even I was getting irritated by the time I exited the terminal.