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UPDATED: Now 23 Rules Nobody Told You, But You Need to Know About Air Travel
10 Comments | Posted by Joe Lavelle in Career Acceleration, My $0.02, Top 10 Lists
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Due to the overwhelming popularity and response from my original post, I have updated this post with additional rules provided by fellow road warriors. I hope that you enjoy, obey and add your rules!
I have recently started traveling frequently (5 days a week) again and that has inspired me to share my rules for traveling. Please let all of us know if I have missed anything! Bring your sense of humor!
1) Ok the airlines already told you this one, but they really mean it. Wait until your row number is called to board. You are not any more important that the rest of us. Airlines have developed efficient boarding processes since 9/11 and they work well to get everyone on and off the plane quickly. PLEASE do not mess that up by acting as if you are more important than the rest of us.
2) Ok they told you this too. You are only allowed TWO carry-on bags. See # 1 about whether you are more important than others and deserve special treatment.
3) Put your bag in the overhead bin and sit down within 60 seconds. This will require you to get organized prior to boarding. If everyone takes 5 minutes to get settled and there are 180 passengers… you can do the math. Again, see #1 to see if you are more important than the rest of us and deserve more time.
4) You do not have to check in AGAIN at the gate. The airline gave you your boarding pass ( or you printed it yourself) so you could get through security. If you do try to check again, you will only be clogging the line for me as I try to talk the agent into upgrading me instead of the five people ahead of me on the upgrade list. I know, I need to see #1.
5) DO NOT, under any circumstances, recline your seat. That’s right. Nobody ever told you this before, but it is just plain rude and inconsiderate. The two inches that you recline behind you makes it IMPOSSIBLE for the person behind you to read, work on a computer, or otherwise function for the duration of the trip. If you start to feel uncomfortable after reclining, it is because you have likely trapped the knees of someone 6’ tall or taller and they can’t feel them anymore so they have to move them every sixty seconds to be sure they are still there.
6) Don’t be a LOUD talker to your neighbor, especially if they are clearly trying NOT to engage in your conversation by putting on their headphones, surrounding their face with their newspaper or book or working on their computer.
7) DO NOT knock me over to get to your bag on the conveyor belt. Find your own space and wait until the bag gets to you.
8) DO clean up after yourself in the airplane restroom. It’s gross enough in their already.
9) DO everything you can to help a parent that is traveling alone with kids. If you have traveled alone with kids before you are shaking your head in agreement vigorously. If not, you probably DISAGREE violently. You just need to trust me, You will be re-paid in spades later for a small effort now. I am sure whatever God you worship is shaking his or her head.
Note: There was definitely 2 camps on the traveling with kids topic. Some strongly against and some strongly for this rule. My $0.02 on this is guided by the saying “where you stand has everything to do with where you sit.” When I was single, I detested having to wait 30 seconds for a family to get situated in front of me. Now that I am a parent, I understand how hard it is to travel with kids.
10) DO travel in your comfortable clothes, keep a toothbrush and any medications with you on the plane, and see #1 one more time.
Please don’t take any of my poor humor too seriously, but please do follow the rules! Happy and Safe Travels…..
For more on this topic from some of my heroes, mentors, and/or thought leaders, check out these out:
- Freakonomics Blog @freakonomics Captain Steve Answers Your Airline Questions
- Freakonomics Blog @freakonomics Captain Steve Answers More of Your Airline Questions
- Tim Sanders @SandersSays Travel Tips
Here are the great rules added by travel warriors that follow my blog. Thank you to all who added your rules!
11) (from Nigel Hardy) Always be nice and polite to the staff at check-in, boarding and on-board. This is especially true when you fly weekly to the same destinations; they will remember you and you will soon become that #1 more important than others at the top of their upgrade lists!
12) (from Linda – I think this was my sister!) As I am hyperorganized, I will have done everything humanly possible to prearrange an aisle seat. for myself So unless you have small children and need to switch in order to sit next to them, DO NOT ask me to switch into your middle or window seat because YOU didnt get your crap together ahead of time and reserve yourself your own aisle seat. Either I will say yes and then will have high blood pressure from resentment for the rest of the day, or I will say no and have high blood pressure for the rest of the day because you made me feel like a jerk.
13) (from Linda again) When I am seating in my previously-described prearranged aisle seat, DO NOT come barreling down the aisle when you are boarding with your way-too-big 100-pound carryons slung over your shoulder, smacking me on the head as you go by. Thank you.
(next 3 from Andrea)
14) Do NOT use your iPod headphones as if you were deaf: this may disturb my reading or working or relaxing
15) Do NOT switch on your mobile phone before the airplane has stopped engines: are you different from others (rule #1)?
16) Do NOT push your knees against the seat back in front of you, you might be irritating the person sitting in right before you
(re: Andrea’s #16 from Freyja). Being a nearly 6 foot tall female who prefers a window seat (and shoots for the exit row whenever I can) that isnt always physically possible, as my knees alone will keep the person in front of me from breaking #5. I have had people bodily fling themselves against the seat trying to get it to go back and if somehow they do get it back my knees will be firmly planted in their lower bits with movement every few minutes or so to remind my toes they are not on vacation.
(next 2 from Ludmilla)
17) Do your best to consolidate your carry-on stuff way before you reach the gate, definitely before reaching the security point. When you spread all of your dozen or so small packages on the belt – you considerably slow down the rest of us in line behind you.
18) Do pay attention to the 3-1-1 rule. As idiotic as you may think it is, this is the rule – so follow it and don’t wait until they tell you multiple times in-a-row to show them your liquids. See rule #1 again. Don’t slow me down – it is my mission to get through this procedure as fast as possible.
(next 2 from t22)
19) If you are sitting in a middle seat, get there early. Nobody wants to suffer that illusion of having the middle seat open during the flight, only to have such dreams violently dashed by the smiling, usually large person, who is about to slide into that tiny little seat next to you just before the plane door closes!
20) Most flights in the US are relatively short, I know they don’t serve food anymore, but do you really need that double tuna sandwich to pick at during the entire 2 hour flight?
21) (from Lisa) If you are traveling with children, bring activities and snacks to keep them occupied. Depending on age – videos, coloring books, cars, books, cards. A tired, hungry child with nothing to do is no fun whether at home or on a plane.
22) (from Mike Medulan) Executive Travel Tip – Always avoid travelling on Holidays when the rookies are out. Like the Fonz said “Saturday nights are for Rookies” – avoid Thanksgiving, Christmas and any other Holiday that requires presents. Whining executives are much worse than kids – at least the kids have an excuse – they are children (by age).
23) (from Kurt Weirich) Regional jets have smaller overhead bins. If the agent says you need to gate check your bag, you need to gate check your bag. The corollary to #23 is: On regional jet flights you can avoid a checked bag fee by gate checking your carryon. You’ll also get it back at the ramp at your destination instead of having to wait at baggage claim.
Related posts:
- 10 Rules Nobody Told You, But You Need to Know About Air Travel I have recently started traveling frequently (5 days a week)...
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10 Comments for UPDATED: Now 23 Rules Nobody Told You, But You Need to Know About Air Travel
Executive Resume Writer
Author comment by Joe Lavelle
Hi Erin – now you are crystal clear what all those frequent flyers giving you dirty looks will be thinking 
Don’t be nervous, just be organized and you will do great! I hope that your trip is GREAT! -Joe
Harry Tucker
Bravo,
These are excellent.
Two quick stories about airlines.
1. Treat the staff with respect – when weather cancels your flight, it is not the fault of the staff. See a note I wrote about that here – http://harrytucker.blogspot.com/2008/02/customer-service-doing-right-thing.html
2. When you land in an emergecy landing as I did once (full crash position and the whole nine yards) and you have to go to the counter to book an alternate flight, express your gratitude to the staff about their maintenance, their training and their professionalism instead of bashing them about how ticked off you are because you are late going nowhere in particular.
When I was in a near disaster a couple of years ago (described by the pilot as one of the top three scariest events in his life) and went to the counter, the people ahead of me in the line tore a layer off the poor lady in the counter. When it was my turn, I expressed gratitude to them because of their maintenance, training, etc and how grateful I was to be alive.
My reward for doing this outside of treating this woman as a human being? I was put in executive class on the next flight out, with vouchers for meals and souvenirs at any kiosk / restaurant in the airport while I waited. The people ahead of me, who were going to the same destination as I was, were put on standby until the next day, probably giving them something else to complain about.
The moral is – the world treats us as as we treat the world.
Take care and thanks for this list.
Harry
Author comment by Joe Lavelle
Hi Harry and thank you very much for your additional insight. I could not agree more that the best way to get what you want with airlines is by first using humility and just being nice! Best wishes! -Joe
Lilian
If you are traveling with kids, ask to be seated at the back of the plane. That way, your boarding early will not keep the rest of the boarding to proceed. Also, if your kids should get cranky and disruptive, it will be less noticeable at the back of the plane. And last but not least, let everyone else deplane first. That way, you can take your time getting your stuff and kids together — another reason for sitting in the back of the plane.
When picking up baggage from baggage claim, do not stand right in front of the conveyor. That will only make it harder for other people to get to their bags. If everyone stands a few feet away from the conveyor, then there will be plenty of room for people to come forward to retrieve their bags without having to excuse themselves to get through and there will be plenty of room for people to haul their bags off the conveyor without injuring someone who insists on standing right next to the conveyor.
Author comment by Joe Lavelle
Hi Lilian – These are 2 great additions! Thank you very much! -Joe
Tom C
Comment about #5 – The reason I sit in the Exit row is because the row in front of it will not recline. I can’t tell you how many times the person in front of me has almost broken my laptop because they didn’t look before they reclined their seat. They must consider it a right to recline! BS, where’s the courtesy with people these days!
Suggestion #24 – Don’t stand in the middle of the concourse – waiting for someone in the bathroom, looking clueless. If your going to stop, move against a side wall.
Suggestion #25 – Don’t stand in front of the gate 20 minutes before boarding, again blocking the concourse.
Suggestion #26 – When forming a line for food, coffee ,etc, take the line down the side wall, not out into the middle of the concourses so people have to walk around or through the line.
Do you hear a theme going here!!
Overview from the CDI Summit (think networking & food) | Professional Resume Services | October 24, 2009 at 12:49 am
[...] Anyway, that is where I’ve been. Now, where was I? Oh yeah. The flight. [...]
Rod Richardson
Joe:
I love the six degrees of separation phenomenon. I found this site through a LinkedIn interest group (TSC Alumni) and it is a wonderful discussion thread. I’m a lifelong road warrior and serious airline (Continental) and hotel (Marriott) “point monger” (intentional euphemism). Your 23 travel tips are long overdue and many should be shared with the airlines so they can implement them. If acceptable, here’s #24, which could well be 13A from above.
I’ve actually had some success in getting this announced by flight attendants since a “maroon” dropped his laptop bag onto my seat tray smashing my laptop and sending an ice tea spraying over a dozen people nearby. He reached to answer his cell, forgetting he hadnt’ finished putting the bag in the overhead…then watched it drop, break my laptop and bonce into my lap. He kept talking while he gathered it back up and jammed it into the overhead, never apologizing to any of us affected by the drop. There’s a special hell for people like that.
Rule 13A / 24) Everyone boarding an airplane should be required to unshoulder and carry at knee level their backpacks, laptop bags or anything slung over their shoulders so that they can bring 150 lbs of stuff onto a Regional Jet. Like the organized lady who commented a few times above, I feel like I’m cheating if I’m not on the plane, with all my gear stowed, in my seat and reading in under 45 seconds. There is nothing I’ve ever done and no one I know so important that talking with them can’t wait 2 minutes while I quickly and efficiently board and aircraft. This goes doubles for the pack of clowns who bring their cell phone conversations into the bathroom and hold them while using the facilities – these people are mentally disturbed IMHO.
I totally agree with everyone who commented that treating the staff – from the Pilot down to the folks who vacuum the plan — with courtesy and dignity. I’ve yet to meet a gate agent who could ward off rain or stop it from snowing. Likewise, when a pilot who probably could land an F/14 on an aircraft carrier, decides the weather is too bad to fly – they’re just doing their job and ensuring our safety. What should they do – fly anyway and possibly crash, burn and kill 72 passengers and crew just so one person can make their Cedar Rapids connection? I don’t get it and I’ve been flying for my job for 25 years now and still don’t get it.
I’ve rambled far too long. Thanks for this discussion. I’m sending a link to a dozen other Road Warriors who will really benefit from reading it. Can’t wait to see what you’ve got to say on the rest of your BLOG.
Rod R
10 Stupid Airline Rules That Only Frustrate Passengers | Act As If It Were Impossible to Fail | November 15, 2009 at 5:26 pm
[...] UPDATED: Now 23 Rules Nobody Told You, But You Need to Know About Air Travel [...]
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Hi Joe,
Good tips, especially since I will be flying for the first time in 13 years next week. Gee, REALLY not nervous now!
For consideration of the other passengers, I will remember to: sit poker straight, not move an inch, not say a word to anyone, walk timidly, smile continuously, and remember that I am NOT special.
Whew! Maybe I’ll just drive the 23 hours…
P.S. Isn’t there special consideration for nervous newbies like me? Perhaps drinking the entire flight is the best thing to do since I get REALLY chatty when nervous. I feel sorry for the poor person who will be my seat mate.
Thanks for the compilation of tips everyone!