Airplane??
Today’s question is: Why don’t people have any manners (or sense) on airplanes?
Background: I recently took two flights to Mexico. One was with my children and one was not. My children have flown several times and from the first time they began flying I laid down the law about what was and was not acceptable while flying. When flying with children here are the important rules:
1. absolutely no kicking the seat in front of you, EVER. no pushing against it either.
I have no intention of fighting with some poor soul on a plane over this.
2. when the seatbelt sign is on, your seat belt is on, NO EXCEPTIONS, ever.
pottying is technically the only exception, of course.
3. No screaming or general misbehaving, EVER.
strict consequences for this one. once I told them if they misbehaved they would sit by the edge of the pool while everyone else swam for 30 minutes when we reached our destination. Worked like a charm.
On our second flight to mexico, we had 3 year old twins in front of us. They were terrible and dare I say bratty. The mom had absolutely no control over them. The didn’t listen. They constantly screamed, refused their seatbelt, even though the flight attendant came by several times to do the seatbelt parenting the parents couldn’t handle, and they constantly stood in their seats looking over at us (that was actually kinda cute, but if they were my kids I wouldn’t find that behavior so cute). Those parents needed to lay down the the airplane law, seriously.
On a flight I was on several years ago some woman was applying nail polish. Is that the rudest thing ever? I was shocked that the woman thought the confines of the airplane was the best place for toxic smelling nail polish. I think someone put a stop to that whole business because the smell only lasted 15 or so minutes, it’s that or I just shut it out.
Finally, peanuts. Sometimes I seriously wonder how they could still give out peanuts on a plane or sell them in the airport. There are so many people with severe peanut allergies these days that the mere opening of a bag of peanuts into the recirculated air on an airplane could send those spores a-flyin’ and send some poor unsuspecting soul into anaphylactic shock. Do people not realize that having an anaphylactic reaction on board means IMMEDIATE landing? It has the potential of a major delay. Why doesn’t everyone know this? Even with 2 epi pens (and those severe reaction people probably travel with 4 epi pens, which is 2 more than normal) the person with a reaction would need medical attention soon, landing is mandatory.
We need to somehow give people sense and teach them to fly with manners. Flying is like cattle herding with slightly better conditions, no?
April 23, 2009 @ 9:11 pm
HOORAH!! HOORAH!! Thank you Thank you Thank you! I travel often with my child (4yo) and I do NOT allow rude behavior. As we have been traveling with him several times a year since he was an infant he knows the drill at this point. Also, he is allergic to tree nuts. I do not understand why airlines continue to serve nuts. It is beyond me why this is such a controversial issue. It is a matter of life and death! Thank you for bringing this to the attention of others.
Comment by Anonymous — October 20, 2009 @ 3:32 pm