I haven't posted a rant in a while. Not because there's nothing to complain about—there is plenty. I've just been holding on to my thoughts.
Whenever I get on a plane, I look at my fellow travellers and think "we're all in this together". No matter how long the flight, we're about to spend time in close proximity—sharing germs and all. With that in mind, I try my best to not be bothersome. But some travellers clearly don't care about that. How do I know? Their behaviour, that's how!
Here's a list of the most annoying people you will find on a plane.
The wanderer
I like window seats. They provide me with a view and a place to lean on. They are perfect for me: I don't have to wake up and get up to let my row mates pass. But I know they come with some restrictions: I cannot move about as often as I please.
Now, if you like to stretch your legs from time to time or if you want to be able to check on your friend/significant other/family member who's seat is 5 rows downs, the window seat isn't for you. Nobody, not one soul, will be OK with you getting up 5 times on a one-hour flight.
Now, if you're sick, you can politely ask for the aisle seat.
The headrest grabber
At some point, we all have to get up to stretch our legs or to go to the bathroom. And that's totally OK. What is NOT OK, is to grab my headrest to prop yourself up and pulling my hair in the process.
Has that ever happened to you? You're fast asleep during a flight, either because you're tired or because that's your coping mechanism for being all the way up there in a flying metallic object. I digress. So, you're fast asleep and you're abruptly woken up because your follicles are being pulled from your scalp, while you feel your head sinking. Ugh!
And the person often doesn't apologise. *sigh*
The armrest hogger
I don't want to argue this, because every body knows that, in a 3-seat row, the armrest belongs to the person in the middle seat. Every. Body. Knows. That.
The armrest hogger is that person who sits in the aisle seat or the window seat and comfortably puts each of their elbows on an armrest. [insert eye roll]
The person in the window seat manages the windows and gets 1 armrest. You can politely ask them to open or close them, but, like Amanda Seales says: they run the windows. The person in the aisle seat can get up as often as they want; they aren't bothering anyone (unless they are a headrest grabber!). They also get 1 armrest. The person in the middle seat gets two armrests. *shrug*
The chit-chatter
Respecting other passengers' space and boundaries is key. But people will try.
There's always that person who is super friendly and wants to make new/fast friends on the airplane. I'm not that person. I'll wake you up for food. I'll help you with your screen. Hell, I'll lend you my portable charger if you need some juice. But I may not want to engage with you any further.
Here are some hints that your fellow passenger doesn't want to be bothered. I will use "I" for ease of reference, and so that you know I'm talking about myself, really. If I'm wearing my headphones (and I mean the big obvious ones) it means that I don't want to talk. I may answer a question or two, but I'm not going to engage in a full-blown conversation. If I'm reading a book or writing in my journal, I obviously don't want to talk about how exciting the trip is going to be. If I'm asleep, *deep inhalation* let me be.
Am I hogging the armrest? No. So, what do you want from me?