Etiquette

Fool at the pool. Don’t be that person.

Etiquette, Well-Mannered Traveler,

If you’re lucky enough to go somewhere this summer, even if it’s just to an airport hotel, chances are there will be a pool in the picture. Summer

Do you know what to do when you’re there? It seems like a lot of folks don’t.

That’s why my Well-Mannered Traveler column on MSNBC.com this week is titled: Don’t be the fool at the pool.   You can read the full column on MSNBC.com (and vote on what you think is the most annoying pool behavior) but here’s an excerpt.

As they check into and out of hotels in the course of taking notes for their assigned site visits, staff members of the recently launched site, Oyster Hotel Reviews, take a lot of pictures. Some photos confirm that a hotel’s king-size beds are as plush and as large as advertised. Others, like the shot taken at the Sheraton Manhattan Hotel (below), might make guests think twice before taking a dip in the pool.

pools-sheraton-manhattan-hotel- OYSTER

Ick, right? Do people really need to be told not to poo, pee, spit, or blow their nose in a hotel pool? Evidently they do. And, looking over the results of a recent TripAdvisor survey, it’s clear that there’s an ocean’s worth of other travelers out there who could use some tips on what sort of behavior is acceptable, or not, at the pool.

Travelers told TripAdvisor that loud music, hogging beach chairs, and urinating in the pool were some of the activities they found most annoying. Although 53 percent of the almost 4,000 people surveyed admitted they thought it was OK to pee in the ocean as long as other swimmers weren’t too close by. Other irritating behaviors high on the list included smoking, littering, not showering before entering a pool and letting kids take other kids’ beach or pool toys without asking.

Bad manners, right?

There’s more:

In some places, it’s PDA, public displays of affection. At the Vero Beach Hotel & Spa in Vero Beach, Fla., the pool concierge (yes, that’s a job) says he keeps an eye peeled for couples getting a little too cozy by the pool and, when necessary, steps-in and asks them to tone it down. “Usually it starts out subtle,” says Alex Serkadakis, “but then after a few drinks, they can get a little too frisky. Rubbing suntan lotion on their partner’s back can turn into a seductive massage and then next thing you know, they are rubbing oil all over each other.”

Serkadakis says kids love putting stuff like fish, turtles, etc. into pools, but sometimes people want stuff taken out of the water. Like all the water.

Erin Scheinost, the manager at the Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak’s River Ranch in Phoenix had one mom who demanded that the resort’s 4-acre water park be drained because her 12 year-old son had lost his retainer in the lazy river section of the park. Scheinost couldn’t do that. Nor could she call the woman if her son’s retainer popped up. “My staff finds a lot of retainers and we have no way of identifying the owners.”

To read more pool fool stories and get some tips from experts on proper poolside behavior, see my Well Mannered Traveler column on MSNBC.com: Don’t be the fool at the pool.

Tidbits for travelers: Jack Daniel’s at IAH, messy passengers, and some creepy people

Etiquette, Kids, ,

Jack Daniel’s at IAH

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Don’t know how I missed this in real time, but in June (2009), Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) rolled out the black and white carpet to welcome the world’s first Jack Daniel’s-themed airport store.  Located in Terminal D, near Gate 6, the  duty free/retail shop is stocked with shirts, hats and other JD logo-emblazoned items and, as I see from their video, lots of bottles of whiskey.

New Business Center at MIA

MIA BUSINESS CENTERAt Miami International Airport’s South Terminal, passengers who need to take care of business can now stop at the post-security business center between Concourses H and J. The International Currency Exchange (ICE) Business Center has a conference room and five computers with Internet and print capability, and offers fax, photocopy, currency exchange, and cell-phone rental services.

Messy Passengers make messy planes

pink-pig-icon

It’s irritating – and gross – to get on an airplane and have to clean off the seat and the tray table (and sometimes the seat back pocket) before you sit down.  Maybe you should blame the messy passengers who sat there before you instead of the airline cleaning crew.  As Patrick Smith describes in his Ask the Pilot column on Salon.com this week, some passengers are really pigs!

Kids traveling alone – beware!

And this is sad.  A few weeks back, there were reports of two separate incidents in which Continental Airlines put children flying as unaccompanied minors on the wrong flights.

All worked out well for those kids. And as I described in a recent Well Mannered Traveler column on MSNBC.com (Tiny travelers; big responsibilities) there are some things you can do to make sure your kids are safe when flying alone as well.  In addition to making sure your child is mature enough to travel alone and is equipped with the right tools (information, confidence, cash, food, cell phone, etc.) the column points out that, even though an airline will take a fee for transporting your child, it’s important not to confuse the airline with a babysitter.  As one flight attendant says, “…we don’t watch unaccompanied minors 100% of the time.  If a child is shy and isn’t comfortable speaking up for themselves,” then they probably shouldn’t be traveling alone.

That last point is especially important because, as Traveling Mama Jennifer Miner reminded me when she sent me the link to this article from SFWeekly.com, there are some really sick people out there.  The article is a really frightening read. But if you’ve got kids that fly alone, it’s probably important that you read it and then have a talk with your kids.

And if don’t have kids that fly alone but you see a kid on a plane that looks as if he or she is in trouble: do something!

Would you be Facebook friends with your airport?

Etiquette

Would you be Facebook friends with your airport?

That’s the question I posed in my Well Mannered Traveler column on MSNBC.com today after attending an airport conference where airport reps talked about how to improve customer service.

Not included in the column was the fast growing list of airports using Twitter to communicate with travelers. Here are nine.  Another list will post later.  But, because I don’t want to offend anyone ( I am the Well Mannered Traveler, after all….) let me know if your airport should be on the list.  After this: airlines.

  1. @CAKairport Akron-Canton Airport  (Twitter Trailblazers…)
  2. @SFOgal – San Francisco International Airport
  3. @BostonLogan – Boston Logan In’tl Airport
  4. @yvrconnections – Vancouver International Airport
  5. @YYZ – Toronto International Airport
  6. @LAX_Official – Los Angeles International Airport
  7. @PITairport – Pittsburgh International Airport
  8. @Flack4RIC – Richmond International Airport
  9. @BWI_Airport – Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport

Alanis Morissette clips toenails on airplane

Celebrities, Energy, Environment, Etiquette,

Celebrities are joining in to promote Earth Hour, March 28th, and Alanis Morissette – and her toenails – star in this PSA about the event.

I include it here on the Stuck at the Airport blog because, to promote the big “turn off” day, Morissette is shown clipping her toenails in her airplane seat – to the shock and dismay of her seatmate.

Earth Hour: The Huge Turn Off- Alanis Morissette PSA

Exit-row etiquette: should you have a license to sit there?

Etiquette, Safety

exit-sign

Who doesn’t enjoy being seated in the exit row? The seats assure cramped passengers extra inches of legroom and are an airplane’s most coveted feature.

How do get one of those seats? They’re usually assigned to top-tier frequent fliers, passengers who have paid an extra fee, those who ask nicely or folks who are simply at the right place at the right time.

But maybe those seats should be assigned instead to passengers who have taken a safety course and are certified to sit there.  Or at least to people who have actually practiced opening an exit row door and throwing it off to the side.

Those are just two of the ideas offered up by a panel of safety experts outlined in my Well-Mannered Traveler column on MSNBC.com today.  Here’s a link where you can read all about Exit Row Etiquette. While you’re there, take a moment to cast your vote in our exit-row survey. So far close to 3,000 people have voted and most of them think that they should get an exit row seat just because they ask for one.

What do you think? Would you be willing to practice opening an emergency exit-row door or would you attend a safety class in order to get an exit-row seat?

Traveling with pets: JetBlue’s JetPaws program

Etiquette, Pets,

While some airlines are making it harder to travel with your pet, JetBlue Airways is promoting its pet-friendliness.

The airline’s JetPaws pet program offers pets and their people a free, downloadable e-booklet highlighting pet-friendly hotels, restaurants, parks and animal hospitals in some of JetBlue’s destination cities and a list of Travel Petiquette guidelines, which outline the social graces of jetting with small dogs and cats.

You can read more about the JetPaws program here, but in the meantime check out this photo.

JETBLUE AIRWAYS JETPAWS PAUL & BUDDY

It’s Buddy and his owner, Paul, the winners of JetBlue’s recent “Pet Look-Alike” contest.

Here’s a link to the photos of the runners up in the pet look-alike contest.

How does your pet travel?

Yin-yang of air travel

Etiquette

Just as we were feeling all warm and fuzzy about the story of the Northwest flight from Amsterdam to Boston that arrived with an extra passenger due to the on-board birth of a baby, comes word that in Washington, D.C. Air Tran removed a Muslim family of nine from a flight headed from Reagan National Airport to Orlando because “passengers heard them discussing the safest place to sit and misconstrued the nature of the conversation.”

ying-yang-clipart1

By the way – according to the fact-or-fiction site Snopes.com, babies born in-flight do not get to fly free on that airline for the rest of their lives.

Play nice at the airport

Etiquette

Jason Barger wants folks to be nicer to each other at the airport – and everywhere else  –  and he’s written a book that he hopes will convince people to turn off their personal auto-pilots and start paying attention to what’s going on around them.

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In the self-published Step Back from the Baggage Claim, Barger describes how a week spent watching travelers in airports convinced him that the world would be a better place if people took a few steps back from the baggage claim – literally and figuratively- and tried to help each other out.

It’s not as woo-woo as it sounds.  People are generally wound way too tight, especially when they’re stuck at an airport or pushing their way up to that baggage claim carousel.

So I agree with Barger: step back and relax.

And if you are at an airport, mellow out by looking around for some art, some new shops, or one of those swanky new airport wine bars.

Coffee, tea or laptop privacy screen?

Etiquette, Wi-Fi

It’s icky, irritating, rude — and relatively rare — at least for now.

But as in-flight Wi-Fi becomes a reality, some flight attendants, passengers and parents are worried that passengers booting up pornography, violent content, and other potentially inappropriate content on their laptops at 35,000 feet will become a real problem.

Find out what travelers, parents, and the airlines say about the pros and cons of filtering in-flight Internet in my most recent  Well-Mannered Traveler column on MSNBC.com.

Is Courtesy Contagious?

Cell Phones, Etiquette

My Well Mannered Traveler column on MSNBC.com this week is all about courtesy – and the efforts to encourage it – on buses, subways, and trains. Many of the strategies public transit agencies are trying out could help air travelers get along with each other inside airports and on airplanes as well.

For example, wouldn’t you like to be able to point at this poster from NJ Transit next time there’s a loudmouth on their cell phone sitting next to you in an airport gate area?

One strategy I didn’t get to include in the column this week comes from Jodi R.R. Smith, of Mannersmith Etiquette Consulting, who created her own subway courtesy campaign:

“…. Since I boarded the train at an early stop, there were almost always seats. I would sit, until I saw someone who needed the seat more than I did. Then in a firm tone, I would offer my seat… It was interesting to notice that on the days that I offered my seat, those around me, at subsequent stops, would also offer their seats to those in need. However, on days when I sat with my nose in a book, rarely would any seats be offered. Remember, your good example can set off a positive chain reaction.”