Friendly Skies?

It doesn’t take an aeronautical engineer to see the state of affairs the airline industry has found itself in. Obviously oil prices make an impact and security is always an issue. Customers are being charged fees for food, water, blankets and even whether one sits in a window or aisle.
As much pain as all of this is, the greater frustration sometimes lies in your fellow passengers.

Allow me to illustrate.

Upon arriving at the airport and securing a boarding pass, the next step is to go through a security checkpoint. Undoubtedly you will encounter the unseasoned or completely oblivious traveler who isn’t quite sure what to take out, take off, or put in a bin. As frustrating as it can be to watch helplessly as this individual single handedly backs up the security line to unfathomable proportions, you kind of have to feel compassion knowing that they’re physically and intellectually struggling.

I give a pass on this experience and move on to the boarding gate.

Ah the boarding area. One of those places that time seems to stand still. The redundant replay of CNN Airport can be heard while muffled announcements regarding flight status can be heard intermittently. If you happen to not be paying attention you would think Wolf Blitzer was telling you that your plane is about to take off.

Sure, you’ve got the young couple with kids that the mother can’t seem to keep in one place while the father remains oblivious to all that is going on around him. There are the business travelers on their laptops and headsets not wanting to waste a moment of work time, while the students with the enormous backpacks knock people over as they try to find a seat. However, the worst that you will encounter are the kind folks that occupy one seat with their butt and then three others with their bags. The moment you ask one of them if there is anyway you might be able to take a seat near them, they bark back like a raging dog and then give you a stare as if to say, “my bags are more valuable than you, so my bag will not touch the floor.”

This is where you decide to touch the floor instead and find a resting spot against a pillar for support. Let the entertainment begin. It’s only a matter of time before the line begins to board the plane. I love to watch the people who already know they are in the last group of people that will board, to get up and find a place close to the door to stand. It never fails; they stand up there and wait in an almost noticeable disgust as passenger after passenger boards ahead of them. Why one would do this to their self I have no idea. I simply smile as I pass by, with kind of that ‘nanner nanner’ grin.

Once in line to get on the plane, it’s the slow monotonous wait. As you actually get inside the plane, you can see the person just ahead that is continually readjusting the way their bag will sit in the overhead compartment. After about the seventh time the person directly behind them finally makes the squeeze move around the person to continue moving. As if they had no idea, with complete surprise, the chronic re-adjuster looks back with this startled look on their face.

Yeah, that’s right buddy, there ARE people behind you.

As you finally reach your seat, you sit and silently hope that the seat next to you will remain unoccupied. It’s like a game of Russian roulette as you watch people pass by your row hoping that they keep walking. If you’re fortunate, the seat will remain unoccupied. If you’re living a very bad life it will be taken by the 400 pound woman or man and does not fit and needs two seatbelt lengtheners from the flight attendant. This is where you ask, “weren’t the airlines going to start charging for two seats to overweight people?”

More often than not, the seat is occupied and it’s usually by a nice, friendly looking person. Or at least they seem to be until they sit down. Lately, for me, this has been where the battle begins.

As a rule, the armrest can be shared; however, you must stake your claim as to which portion of the armrest you are going to use. The other person is granted the remaining portion that is going unused. Maybe it’s just my sensitivity to other people touching me, but somewhere along the line people forgot the ‘space’ rule that was taught in elementary school. Without fail, the person next to me continually leans on my arm or rests against it to the point of awkwardness. Of course I can’t move my own arm. To do so would be to relinquish my place on the armrest. It becomes a battle of longevity in determining who will hold out longer.

While trying to maintain armrest space, the next problem occurs with the people behind you. Why is it they think your seat is the method in which to raise and lower themselves into their seat? Every movement in and out of the row behind usually entails your headrest being used as the stabilizer.

I love new technology and now all of the seats have your own personal television. This is great as long as you’re not sitting in front of the person that can’t make a decision on what to watch. The screen is a touch screen and really it doesn’t take that much pressure to select a channel. But to the person behind you, it’s like a non-stop tapping on the back of your head for the duration of the flight.

For me, I like to obtain the aisle seat in order to stretch out my long legs. Downside? Curvy flight attendants. Its one thing that the beverage cart comes through knocks your elbow or shoulder. At least there is a benefit that will come. I cannot fathom how the airlines would hire, or how any one would feel comfortable by having a person who cannot fit down the aisle without being slightly wedged between the chairs of each row. Even when they try and turn sideways to add space and they still hit the chairs on either side of the aisle. I know this may sound mean, but when the flight attendant makes as many trips up and down the aisle as they do, this cannot be an effective method for sliming inches off of the hips. It certainly isn’t something I enjoy being the recipient of.

These may seem like nit-picky things to make a big deal out of. Maybe so. But the next time you fly, pay attention to the lack of courtesy and manners people have on planes and in the airport. They say come fly the friendly skies, but I’m not so sure the skies are that friendly anymore.

As a follow-up to this blog, I was recently at the airport and noticed the posted miles per hour is 10MPH. I wondered why we are more concerned about a person with their luggage than we are about children going to school. (20MPH zones) Then I read an article about a lady who was hit and killed at the airport. Try telling her it’s safe to fly and that more people die in car accidents than on planes.