Etiquette

On the airplane: do you have the right to recline?

Air Travel, Etiquette,

Each Friday on msnbc.com’s Overhead Bin, I have the pleasure of answering a travel question sent in by a reader. This week the topic was that age-old question:

Do passengers have a right to recline their seats on an airplane?

When Jeanne Gillert flies on an airplane, she rarely reclines her seatback “out of consideration for the passengers behind me.” But she’s sick and tired of other passengers who insist on reclining their seatbacks and ramming their seat into her knees.

Gillert, a program officer for a private family foundation in Tulsa, Okla., says she’s tried “gently pointing out to people that the reason they can’t move their seat back any more is because of my knees; not just that the chair is sticking.”

Sometimes that works. “Men usually get it, apologize and quit trying,” said Gillert. “Women on the other hand are horrible! One woman told me to sit up straighter, then got a stewardess to tell me it was her right to recline her seat into my knees and that I would just have to live with it or pay for a more expensive ticket in business.”

That answer doesn’t sit right with Gillert, who asked Overhead Bin, “Since when do we have the ‘right to recline?’ ”

Unless an airplane seat does not have a recline position — Allegiant, Ryanair and Spirit Airlines have entire planes with non-reclining seats — passengers do indeed have “the right to recline.” But issues clearly arise around if, when and how passengers choose to use the amenity.

Anna Post of the Emily Post Institute advises passengers who wish to recline to be sure to do it slowly. “You can also turn to the person behind you and give them a heads up that you’re going to push your seat back,” said Post. “Asking them if it’s OK is nice, but if they say ‘no,’ you have to be prepared to honor their wishes.”

If the person in front of you pushes their seat back quickly, there isn’t a tremendous amount you can do about, said Post. “The best you could do is tap them on the shoulder — although that’s a little much — and say something like, ‘Do you mind just giving me heads up next time?’ ”

When faced with a rude recliner, another option is to request to be moved to a new seat. However, with planes flying very full these days, that’s not always possible.

Some travelers make use of the downloadable “courtesy cards” offered by the creators of the controversial (and on some airlines, prohibited) Knee Defender, a small plastic device that limits how far a seat can be reclined. One version of the card requests that a passenger not recline their seat; the other informs them that you will be using your gadget.

Another defense is to study up on seat pitch (the distance from your seat to the seat in front you) before your flight. Many airlines post this information on their websites, and sites such as SeatGuru, SeatMaestro and SeatExpert post annotated airplane seat charts noting which seats have added legroom and which seats do not recline.

You also might seek out a flight on a plane sporting a new type of seat. On its first 787 airplane, ANA (All Nippon Airlines) equipped the economy cabin with seats that do not recline but instead have a seat cushion that pushes out a few inches.

Whatever you do, try to not get into an argument or over the reclining actions of another passenger. At the end of May 2010, an in-flight fist fight over a reclined seat ended with Air Force fighter jets escorting a Ghana-bound United Airlines flight back to Washington-Dulles International Airport.

What are your rights regarding the Overhead Bin?

Air Travel, Etiquette,

At msnbc.com’s Overhead Bin blog, I’ve been tracking down answers to a big question each week. This week: What to do about Overhead Bin hogs.

We’ve all seen them on airplanes: Fellow passengers who put their stuff in an overhead bin toward the front of the plane before sneaking off to an assigned seat way in the back.

When that happens, some passengers seated up front end up having to store their bags in the rear of the plane.

“Do I have any recourse about what is in the overhead bin over my head?” writes Barbara, a nurse from Elizabeth City, N.C.

“I’ve ended up with my bag being placed all the way in the back and it delays my deplaning ’til the very end. I actually once missed my connection because I had to wait so long to get my carry on.”

“This is a huge flight attendant pet peeve,” said Sara Keagle, a flight attendant who writes the The Flying Pinto blog. “Most flight attendants I know close the first few rows of overhead bins at the start of boarding because of this issue.”

Keagle says that when she and other flight attendants are on duty as the aisle flight attendants, they’ll try to police the situation. But Heather Poole, a flight attendant who writes the Galley Gossip column for Gadling.com, noted that passengers can’t always rely on bin space being saved. “Because we are usually staffed with FAA minimum crew, there aren’t enough of us on board to direct passengers to other bins.”

Bottom line: It can be irritating, but the overhead bins are first come, first serve. “You don’t have any recourse or right to the bin above your seat,” said Poole, who pointed out that one way to get first dibs on the overhead bins is to pay the extra fee most airlines now charge to passengers who wish to board early.

And bin hogs, beware. Overhead Bin has heard from flight attendants who make note of bin abusers − and then quietly gate-check those bags right before departure.

5 things not to do on an airplane

Air Travel, Airline policies, Etiquette, family travel, , ,


The summer travel season is barely underway and already we have a suitcase-full of stories about passengers booted from airplanes for being potty-mouthed, improperly dressed or otherwise over-the-line.

On June 16, a basketball player from the University of New Mexico was arrested at San Francisco after refusing to hike up his baggy pants while boarding a US Airways flight.

A few days earlier, a children’s book author was removed from an Atlantic Southwest Airlines flight at Detroit Metro Airport after a flight attendant overhead him cursing about a flight delay.

The week before, a passenger stripped naked and then locked himself in the lavatory on an Iberia Airline flight going from Madrid to Frankfurt.

And in May, a United Airlines passenger flying from Spokane, WA to Denver was arrested for allegedly masturbating in his seat.

Those bad-boy stories make great headlines. But there are plenty of common, clueless behaviors witnessed by travelers and crew members that’s just plain gross. Here are five activities to steer clear of on your next flight.

Toenail clippers and skin peelers

An unsettling number of travelers report witnessing other passengers clipping toenails mid-flight. Jill Bazeley of Merritt Island, FL can’t forget the “scruffy-looking fellow” she sat next to on a flight from Denver to San Diego. “Through an hour or so of studious picking at his filthy feet, he managed to deposit an unpleasant bounty of skin peelings on the cabin floor,” said Bazeley.

Tray-table diaper changers

Alex Kremer of Boulder, CO is still grossed out by the couple traveling with their baby in the first class cabin on a United Airlines flight. “At one point in the flight I looked up and saw the mother changing the baby’s used diaper right on the seat. She then used her blanket to clean up and tried to hand it to the flight attendant who rightly told her to handle her own waste.”

Scantily-clad seatmates

No one wears their Sunday best to fly anymore, and some people hardly wear anything.

This man flies regularly on US Airways, in equally fetching outfits. Back in 2007, you may remember, student and Hooters waitress Kyla Ebbert was asked to leave a Southwest Airlines flight because a crew member declared her in-flight attire too skimpy. It may have been: when she visited the “Today” show wearing the same outfit, rebroadcasts were edited because Ebbert flashed the national television audience when she sat down.

Bawdy browsers

Not every X-rated website gets blocked by in-flight Wi-Fi and it’s easy for travelers to load porn on portable devices. But watching that stuff on airplanes is just downright creepy.

Stinky snackers

Some people don’t bother to shower before heading to the airport. Others think fried chicken, barbecue ribs and other smelly, greasy and messy meals are acceptable grab-n’-go fare.

They’re not.

This story originally appeared on msncbc.com Overhead Bin blog.

Photo of stunt on wing courtesy The Commons, Flikr  and San Diego Air & Space Museum.

 

 

Proper flying attire: baggy pants or hotpants?

Airline policies, Etiquette, , , , ,

I really can’t tell you what thrilled me more today. The photo (above) that Jill Tarlow took of a fellow airline passenger and shared with The San Francisco Chronicle as part of the national discussion about proper flying attire – or all the other photos of this man people began sending me after I wrote about about him on msnbc.com’s Overhead Bin (What will get you kicked off US Airways? Saggy pants or underpants?)

Jessica Villardi took this photo in May

Sean Stecker spotted him in Phoenix around Christmas

And someone else snapped him in this fetching outfit in Baltimore.

You can read more about the mystery man here, but no matter what you think of his outfits, he – and the University of New Mexico football player recently arrested at San Francisco International Airport for allegedly refusing to follow a US Airways crew members’ request to hike up his saggy pants – are fueling a fresh debate about the rights of passengers at the airport and in the air.

Dusseldorf Airport’s far-out food festival

Airports, Etiquette, Events, Exhibits, Festivals, Food, Fun Stuff, ,

On the first Sunday of each month you’ll find a party or some sort of unusual event going on in the vast public lobby area of Dusseldorf International Airport (DUS).

Last Christmas it was a circus, complete with aerialists and clowns. Last month, the airport was the site of the 2010 German’s best parkour championship. And during the winter Olympics, they trucked in snow and built the world’s largest indoor ski jump right there in the lobby.

What’s on tap for this month’s “Airlebnis,” or air experience?

On July 4th from 11 am until 6 pm, the airport will be hosting a food festival at the airport.

Open to travelers and the general public, “The Terminal Cooks” will include celebrity cooking shows and the opportunity to sit down at one of two long dining tables for a 6-course gourmet meal.

No time to dine? The ‘air experience’ will include cooking classes and lectures on everything from cocktail mixing and sushi rolling to table etiquette and napkin folding.