It's the time of year when most of us make the trek home after a semester of hard work. Some of us make the trip by car, while others, especially us international students, do it by plane. If it's not when going home for the summer, then perhaps you'll get on a plane to go somewhere for vacation, or for a summer internship.
Regardless, many of us have been on an airplane at some point in our lives, and have seen some strange things and people. Here is a short list of types of people that I have encountered in airplanes. Leave comments below with your experiences so we can all laugh/be annoyed together!
The bathroom hog
Now, there may be many valid reasons why this person is in the bathroom for thirty minutes at a time, such as diarrhea or nausea. However, re-doing your full face of makeup while being fully aware that there is a line of people outside waiting to use the bathroom is not a valid reason. Please, wait till you get to your destination and use a bathroom there instead of making us all do our best twister moves in an attempt to control our near bursting bladders.
The loud music listener
This is the person who puts their headphones in on full blast, so loud that their music can be heard throughout a three seat radius. What's even more annoying is that, when one tries to very politely ask them to turn the volume of their music down, they reply with an annoyed side-glance. Excuse me, are you deaf? If not, do you want to be deaf? Either way it's your own business, but keep in mind that, in this transcontinental flight, some of us are trying to sleep and none of us wants to hear your crappy music.
The baby - and the parent who does nothing to quiet him/her down
Babies are babies. They will cry, and it's not their fault. The parents of those crying babies who do not even make an attempt to quiet their offspring down: that's whom I have issues with. Hi, hello, parent, just because you are sound-blind to your child's crying doesn't mean that the rest of us are. At least pretend to be making an effort at quieting him or her down.
The ill-mannered children
These are the kids who press all kinds of buttons, turn on all kinds of lights in the middle of the night, and do all sorts of kung-fu moves to the back of the seat in front of them. Where are their parents or guardians, you ask? Chilling with their headphones in watching Fifty Shades of Grey on their screen. Hello, Ma'am or Sir, the only booty that needs to be whipped here is that of your child who has been going Bruce Lee on the back of my seat for the last two hours while I'm here trying to catch some much-needed sleep after pulling three all-nighters in a row for finals week. DO SOMETHING!!!
The Chatterbox
Most of the time, these are truly very nice people. They like to talk, and they like to make friends. However, what they are realy bad at is reading the bags under one's eyes and/or the headphones on one's ears. Here's a PSA: if the sleepy-looking person next to you replies to your questions with short, polite answers, and doesn't ask any questions back, it means that they are sleepy and they want to sleep. If you really want to talk to them, wait until about twenty minutes after they wake up and ask, "are you feeling a little better? You seemed to be tired." While this is not a guaranteed conversation starter, the person will at least have a good impression of you and be more willing to chat with you later.
The Flirt
This person might think that the passenger next to them is good-looking, they might be genuinely interested, or they just might be lonely and/or horny. Look, I understand that traveling and being away from home gives you the feeling that anything can happen if you just take a chance, but hey, there's a time and place for everything, and a transcontinental flight in which the individual sitting next to you looks real tired or simply creeped out by you is not that place. Body language cues. Learn them.
The nice flight attendant
This flight attendant can easily be the highlight of the plane ride. If a passenger needs something, they are there to help, and always with a smile on their face. These people deserve praise, respect, and a pay raise, because, more often than not, the flight attendants people encounter, especially in long flights or flights to developing countries are:
The fed-up flight attendant
This person might be having a bad day, feeling ill in the stomach, or just in need of a career change. These types of flight attendants are rude, curt, and highly inefficient; they are sometimes even racist. Hey, you should treat all passengers with equal courtesy and respect. I should not have to speak to you in American English for you to not treat me like a third-class citizen in a flight to a developing country. We're all people here.
So that concludes my rant on types of people in airplanes. What kinds of people have you encountered in flights? Share your experiences in the comments below.
