Rude Travelers & The Sense of Entitlement

Posted in Airlines, Travel Industry Insight | 3 comments

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If you would have asked me last week what the current “mood” of summer travelers are this year, I would have said that everyone has been nice, pleasant, and generally, happy. But, that wouldn’t be my answer now.

In fact, it’s not the answer many airline employees and frequent travelers would give either. The USA Today ran a story last week with a list of things that flight attendants find “annoying,” but what I noticed was the list was things any traveler would (and should!) find annoying Sure, we all have a list of pet peeves, and as a frequent traveler in my off time, my list is twice as large as anyone’s since I have a list as a traveler and as a crewmember.

In the Monday, July 25th edition of USA Today they ran a few “Letters” to the editor about airline travel which both gave me hope and down right agitated me.

Southwest Airlines, in my opinion, has by far the best and most equitable boarding process. For other airlines that just don’t get it, I suggest boarding the-first class passengers first, then board from the rear of the aircraft forward and strictly enforce the two-bag limit for carry-ons.
-Jack Fischer | Slippery Rock, PA

Jack, I agree, Southwest does have an amazing boarding system and it works for them. However, they have a one-class cabin, doing an “open seating” type boarding with an airline that has multiple classes wouldn’t work out so well. Also, for your reference, most airlines DO in fact board first class first and then board from the back to the front. That’s pretty standard. The problem is with those passengers who don’t listening to the boarding announcements and board out of sequence. If an airline is boarding “zone 2” and zone 2 is rows 25-21 and 3 people from that zone are still getting coffee or something to eat and decide to board later, they end up holding up the line. Everyone needs to work together in making boarding an easier process. Not to mention, I, as a flight attendant, am required to enforce the limit for carryon items, but realize that a lot of people have a lot of exempt items which also slow down the process. Not to mention, when we do catch someone with more than 2 bags, the tug of war the situation becomes with us having to that it and them not wanting to give it up. Where’s the mutual respect?

Speaking of making boarding easier, Gary Nudd from Scottsdale, AZ had this to add:

The most overriding observation of travel offenses is the blatant selfishness in so many of today’s airline passengers. This is most evident when someone totally ignores the “one bag in the overhead and the other under the seat in front of you” rule.”

Gary, I can’t agree more! This holds up the boarding process and makes boarding the most dreaded phase of flight for ever flight attendant! Passengers have to realize that overhead bin space is shared space. You’re not entitled (I’m going to come back to this word in a minute..) to space above your seat, you didn’t pay to reserve the space above your seat, nor can the airline guarantee that your bag will be above your row. It’s shared. When there’s no more room, other folks have to check their bags (see the “tug of war” above) and that delays everything further. Jackets and coats should go on top of everything in the over head bin, dresses too (not every airline/aircraft has a closet). Be respectful of your fellow passengers and use as little space as you need to to make sure someone else doesn’t have to be inconvenienced.

Speaking of being respectful, it’s also not a bad idea to respect the work your flight crew is doing during these hectic times when flights are full because of Last Minute Holiday Offers. I know, a lot of you are going to read this as a “flight attendant demanding respect” but what I’m actually trying to convey is the idea of mutual respect. Everyone knows the rules, you know you can’t stand up when the seatbelt light is on, you know you when you can and can’t use your cell phones – so why break the rules? Why break the rules when you know we’re going to have to say something to you which, in turn, upsets you because we’re telling you not to do something?

Also, there is a strong sense of “entitlement” out in the skies today. A lot of passengers feel because of the cost of airline tickets things should be free or operate “their way” and frankly, that’s not the case.

Example numero uno – on a recent flight from Washington DC to California, I had a first class passenger get so upset with me, that he began to scold me in front of the other passengers.

What did I do? Nothing! He was upset with “the way it is” and wanted it to be “his way.”

We have two entree options in first class, one is an omelet and the other is a continental breakfast of sorts. This passenger chose the continental breakfast. Later in the flight be approached me with the first class menu and pointed to a berry salad that was listed as an appetizer and asked why he didn’t receive it. I explained to him that the particular appetizer he was asking about is presented with the omelet option because the entree doesn’t have a fruit associated with it and since his meal contained an assortment of fruit, including berries, we only serve that particular appetizer with the omelet entree. His response?

I don’t understand why I’m not entitled to this salad.

I explained, again, and this time mentioning that the menu might be a bit confusing, how the entree’s and appetizers worked. This time, he responded with:

Well, I wouldn’t say its confusing, I’d say it’s f****** deceiving.

There’s a few things that upset me about this situation: 1) He is arguing with me over 4 strawberries and about 10 blueberries, are they really that important? 2) He cursed at me, and wouldn’t let the situation go away, fully knowing I had nothing to do with putting out menu’s together and the desired plating of each meal. I did tell him that I would pass the message on to the “powers that be” and that I apologized, but “it’s just not enough, I was deceived.”

Let’s please just treat each other was respect and actually put the “friendly” back in the skies.

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