10 Travel Etiquette Tips

In honor of USA Today’s “Frequent fliers, attendants share stories of rude travelers,” I thought I’d share some of my own travel etiquette tips. Feel free to add yours in the comments section. 

1. Don’t hog seats in the boarding area.  Planes are full, airports are busy, space is tight on board and in the gate area.  Be kind and leave the seat next to you open so someone else can sit there.  Too often I see people placing their luggage or newspapers on empty seats, even as the boarding area fills up and other passengers are left standing. 
2. Board with your zone.  This one is plain and simple.  Airlines assign boarding order for a reason, and it helps if everyone can just follow the rules.  In many cases, people who board first paid for the privilege, so it’s only fair to honor it.
3. Use the space under the seat in front of you.  Perhaps the greatest stress a frequent traveler faces is the risk of having to check a bag because the overhead bins are full.  Many times I’ve seen the bins packed with small purses, backpacks, and other items that could easily fit under the seat. You’ll have easier access to your items, your fellow passengers will appreciate having space for larger carry-ons, and we’ll all avoid flight delays caused by last minute checked bags.
4. Check before you recline.  Anyone who has ever flown has encountered the frustration of the person in front of you reclining the seat into your space. Yes, you have a right to recline, but wouldn’t it be nice to look behind you before you do it?  Give that traveler behind you who is working on a computer a chance to close his laptop before your seat crushes it.
5. Let people in front of you off the plane first.  The plane pulls up to the gate and every person on board wants to be the first off the plane.  Clearly that can’t happen, and we are a civilized society, so a simple rule will help keep people from being trampled upon arrival.  If you are standing in the aisle, make sure the people in the row in front of you have a chance to exit before you start walking forward.  Most people follow it, but every so often there’s a renegade who apparently didn’t receive the memo. Now you have.
6. Middle seats get the armrests.  I don’t know anyone who likes to sit in a middle seat, do you?  Let’s give those unlucky travelers a break and at least let them use both armrests.  If you’re seated at the window or the aisle, I think you can survive with the one armrest that’s dedicated to you. 
7. Don’t slam the hotel room door.  Once the business traveler survives the stressful flight experience, she is almost home-free when she gets to the hotel.  But there’s one big thing that can ruin a hotel stay:  noise.  Few hotels are soundproofed enough to keep loud noises from penetrating the sanctum of your room, and the worst offender here is the slamming door.  When you enter and exit your room, why not close it gently? 
8. Keep the volume down.  Continuing with noise-in-the-hotel theme, loud TVs and phone conversations can also drive your neighbors crazy.  It’s easy to feel like you are safe and sound in your room and forget that sound travels.  Especially late at night, turn it down so others can make the best of their precious hours of sleep.
9. Wait for the next elevator.  Perhaps one of the most controversial issues of our time – should people in the elevator push the “door open” button?  Or should new arrivals just forego the closing doors and wait?  My vote is for the latter. Just be patient, wait a few minutes for the next car to come.  Hopefully others will do the same for you as the doors are about to close and whisk you away.
10. Walk on the left, stand on the right.  Every moving sidewalk I’ve ever seen in an airport has signs that say exactly that.  So why do so many people straddle the entire width with their luggage, and just stand there like a lump of coal?  Frequent travelers are busy and every minute counts, so why not step aside and let them get by you?  And for you busy travelers whizzing by on the left – watch your rolling suitcases so you don’t club people as you whisk by.  

 

Comments

[irawan1481]

thanks for your input, I will use your tips on my next vacation

[B]

Use your own seat's armrests if you need help standing up. Don't grab the seat in front of you when you get up from your seat!

It's irritating to be jerked back or groped you on the head when the dude or gal in the row behind you uses your headrest as their personal support bar en route to the bathroom. So obnoxious. :)

[foster]

Great observations and recommendations. I'd like to add one more: if you have a child traveling with you and not seated with you on an aircraft, responsible parents should come from their location to check on their child during the flight, especially if the flight is longer than an hour (contingent upon the age of the child). I've been on more than one flight where parents NEVER come check on a 6 yo 10 year old child on a four hour flight. It's amazing the number of boogers a kid can eat and play with in 4 hours!

[RcW]

Be kind with your cell phone! Even if it's allowed onboard the plane, limit your calls to "Hi, I'm on the ground, see you at Carousel X in 10 minutes." Everyone on the plane doesn't need to know the details of your last meal or your big deal. That stuff can wait till you're off the plane, out of earshot.

[Hotels Fairy]

Totally agree! Only recline seat once the aeroplane lights go off to sleep & do not recline while someone behind you is having a meal! :)

[Rotz]

Nice tips. Thanks for sharing.

[AZ2KC]

My tips (someone who flies 200 times a year)
1.Use sense with carry on's. I see people everyday with a duffel bag that could hold a piano.
2. Stop trying to "wheel" your carry on down the aisle. Yes, it will catch on the arm rests and seats. If its too heavy to carry 75 feet it should be checked.
3.PLEASE don't board with your tuna and onion sandwich. Eat before you board or select a odorless food.
4.If you are a person of "size" do your best to not plow your belly or other bodily parts into passengers already seated.
5.When the boarding process begins PLEASE don't run up to the area and hover around the boarding lanes until your group is called. You block those who are supposed to board and create a mess in front of the gate.

The published list and other comments are all good advice as well. Let common sense prevail..

[Shintz]

How could I forget about the person in the seat behind you grabbing your seatback to get in and out of the aisle! Thanks for catching that one, great addition.

[onehsancare]

Stand back from the luggage carousel until you see your bag. There's no reason to crowd everyone else's access to their bags and impede their view until yours is actually accessible.

[Kate Zabriskie - Etiquette Training]

As a mother of two and a frequent traveler, I work really hard to make sure my kids don't make other people crazy by playing with the tray table, kicking the seat, etc. I feel for anyone with children on a long flight, but you brought them there. You have an obligation to teach them to be considerate.

[mariachis]

really totaly agree with the tips for travel

[see website]

Travel gives us knowledge and pleasure at the same time. Travel gives us wisdom. We learn better through travel than through books. In books we read the experience of other people or the second-hand knowledge of other people.

[Passante]

I've been in situations where it's impossible to get out without grabbing the seat in front of me because the person in that seat has reclined it so far that it's practically in my lap causing me to have to lean back so far to edge my way out into the aisle that I'd lose my balance if I tried to use my arm rest.

I know it's annoying to have the back of one's seat grabbed, so perhaps the tip to avoid that is not to recline your seat so far back that the person behind you is trapped.