It is evident that as the years go by, flying just isn’t what it used to be. To go home to Barbados I have no choice but to use American Airlines (no direct flights) and even then, on one 5 hour flight, the sandwich I brought from home is so cold I don’t want it just like I don’t want the $10 cold sandwich box. Ticket prices continue to rise and you spend almost $50 in food travelling back and forth when you have as many flights as I do IF you are even able to stop and get something to eat in between flights. I returned from a 9 day trip to London yesterday and even though I’m grateful for the food, my rant is more about the people you encounter flying now.
Let’s begin with the boarding process. EVERY airline has a certain way of boarding whether front to back or back to front, certain cabins or selected seat numbers, they ALL have a process. SO WHY ARE PEOPLE WHO ARE SEATED IN ROW 12 LINING UP WHEN ROW 42 IS BEING CALLED?! I mean SIT AND WAIT!! Don’t embarrass yourself by going up and being told that number hasn’t been called yet or even worse…. BLOCKING the path for those who are supposed to be boarding at that time. Yes, we all want to make sure we get a space in the overhead bin for our piece so it isn’t placed to the front and we can’t really access it because some ass decided to put a purse that could go under the seat there and refuses to take it down. But really, just step back and let everyone through, the plane won’t leave without you if you’re right there.
I touched on this just now but let’s get to it. The stewards ALWAYS say, “if you have a small piece that can fit UNDER the seat please place it there for the bigger pieces to go in the overhead” (not in those exact words but that’s the gist of it). SOOOOOOOOOOOOO many times, I’ve had to have my luggage placed elsewhere because some person wants all of their “leg room” and the little satchel they brought must be kept above taking up space for a carry-on to fit properly. It is evident that more and more people are using carry-ons with the fees being charged on luggage now so be more considerate and keep your little bag by your feet and let other people, who need it, get the space!
Ok, final part to this little rant – the flight. We had a direct flight coming and going. 9 hours both ways. NINE. The flight going wasn’t bad, no complaints really but coming back was a royal pain (no pun intended). My husband must have a window seat even if he keeps the blinds shut for 95% of the flight, it’s just his spot, so I always take the middle. Not that I mind, it’s one less person to cross over when I have to go to the bathroom. I think it’s safe to say that everyone who isn’t in first or business class just not economy has some misery to them with their fellow seat mates. I’ve learned a few things:
1. being nice goes a long way
2. being mean goes a long way
3. never keep quiet if someone is getting on your nerves.
But when it comes to old people, you just have to bite your tongue and decide which of these you will employ and hope that it is received well. Yesterday, I sat next to a mature lady, with a cane, who took up all of her seat and my armrest. Which meant, I was twisted and leaned on Dave for most of the 9 hours. Even worst, she had a smell. I won’t go into that part but it was quite a challenge. It is evident that in “world traveller” aka “economy” on British Airways, everyone is packed in. Screw leg room. I’m 5′ 1 and that shit don’t even exist for me. But this lady, proceeded to try to STOP the man in front of her from reclining his chair on a nine hour flight because she didn’t have space. I find it DISGUSTING that she thought he wasn’t to relax during this flight because of this. All she had to do was recline hers a little to get more space. I was waiting for her to look at me and comment on it because I was about to say “I understand exactly how you feel because you are all over my armrest”. All she had to do was tell him “Excuse me sir, when you recline your chair I do not have much room behind here, so can you please not push it all the way back.” Damn, I’m 24 and I know that’s how it should’ve been done. People respond to that stuff. Not her pushing it forward trying to stop him every time.. she was lucky he wasn’t mean to her. But what really pissed me off is when I found her foot under the seat in front of me. She was given a stern “EXCUSE ME” and a point to the foot and she apologized and moved it. It was evident this lady had trouble moving in and out of her seat during the flight so Dave and I decided that whenever she got up to go to the bathroom, we’d go the same time. It’s doing little things like that, that can make your flight a little better and make you less frustrated when dealing with people.
I don’t mind people asking for you to not be as comfortable during the flight as you want to be but it’s how you ask and do things. As for children, speak to the parent. Be stern but nice, and keep looking back! There’s nothing worst than a parent who doesn’t give a rat’s ass about what their child is doing to the person in front of them and it’s those that you don’t mess around with – get straight to the point that it won’t be tolerated for the duration of flight.
OMG! How could I forget the people who LOVE to start convos. I had a thought that there should be a sticker you put up to say “Please NO small talk!” to let the person know you are NOT interested. If I’m reading a magazine I don’t really care about where you’re from. If I’m doing something, don’t peep and ask questions. Just leave me. Chances are me sitting in that seat is after an early morning of getting up early to come here and going through security that wants to kill me with radiation and trying to find the damn gate that they had to put at the other end of the airport – I’m not interested, I want “me” time.
I don’t believe I wrote all of that and didn’t mention security! *Sigh* I don’t even know where to begin on that. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ll just begin to fry slowly from the radiation I have to go through with these x-ray scanners. Or either feel aroused or extremely violated by the pat downs. Wonder whether or not I’m being discriminated as a black female because my wedges had to come off when the white man in loafers got to wear his through the metal detector. All this shit and you just say just let me get through this without being pulled aside for a random cavity search or some shit just to realize I had nothing. You also have no choice but to profile people when you get into the line. Business and single young-ish people are the best to get behind. They travel often and normally move fast. DON’T get behind families, old people/ old couples, women who aren’t paying attention or have on too many things. This theory hasn’t failed me yet. There are some scenarios where you don’t have a choice but to get into the line where the TSA officer sent you and you just have to deal with whoever is in front of you. Such is life. But look around and observe who takes forever and who is swift.
So much for a nice post on my return. I’ll probably do another post later today or tomorrow on my actual trip to London. It won’t be as picturific as I wanted as I was sick for most of the trip and didn’t do much. But I’ll still post on what we did and getting around.
Safe and fun travels is what it’s all about!
xx
Just a Dash 