The first time I flew in a plane was 1968 when my family was moving to Hawaii. It was a charter plane the military used for transporting families and therefore pretty generic. Since then, I’ve become a regular flyer and, though it can be grueling, still love going to an airport.
Most fellow passengers are nice, regular people. But there is a reason the Instagram account, Passenger Shaming, has 319,000 plus followers. Here are some of the types I’ve flown with.
Armrest Hogs – In my experience armrest hogs are always men who believe they have the right to take over the armrests on both sides of their seat. They’re often the same jerk guy who wants to lay his suit jacket across the entire overhead space. I don’t put up with their crap and will first try nicely asking them to share the armrest. If that doesn’t work, I just push my way there.
Seat Stealers – I don’t mind moving seats so someone can sit next to their friend or family as long as it’s a like seat. Don’t ask me to move from my coveted aisle seat for a middle. This seems to happen the most on Southwest where everyone has equal chance of getting the aisle by just checking in right away.
Storage Space Gluttons – Unless you’re in a bulkhead row, every passenger has storage under the seat in front of their feet. Otherwise, about 6-9 passengers are sharing one overhead bin. There’s nothing worse than having to check your larger carry-on because your fellow passengers don’t want to put anything in front of their feet.
One flight the woman seated next to me asked me to let her put a carry-on in front of me! She got huffy when I pointed to the overhead bin (where there was plenty of room).
I’ll be on the lookout during upcoming flights for other examples. What’s your least favorite passenger type?
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