We love to travel, but flying can be a pain. Often, the best thing we can do to improve our travel experience is to make others’ travel experience better. We display the ultimate example while contributing to the greater good. Here are the ways following flight etiquette during your flight and while deplaning makes flying a more enjoyable experience for everyone.
Flight Etiquette During the Flight and Show Everyone How It’s Done
Although airlines don’t put enough effort into improving our travel experience, most flight issues arise when passengers ensure personal comfort and convenience at the expense of other travelers. In other words, most flying woes come from passenger selfishness. Even if it happens to you, work to maintain your dignity and show the other passengers how mature travelers practice good manners on flights and follow basic airplane etiquette.
Flight Etiquette For the Greater Good of Flying:
- Try not to snore loudly.
- Don’t drink too much and become a nuisance.
- Offer to let the middle and window seat passengers stretch their legs or visit the lavatory.
- Bring activities for your kids to enjoy.
- Be mindful when reclining your seat.
- Use the tray table wisely.
- Share the armrests.
- Don’t Use Seats to Balance as You Walk The Aisles.
- Don’t use the seat in front of you to pull yourself up.
How To Behave and Display the Best Airplane Etiquette
While it’s easy to misbehave when we’re stressed, tired, or annoyed, our actions have a huge impact on everyone’s flying experience. First, we’ll cover how the act demonstrates productive manners when flying.
Don’t Be a Grizzly Bear
Try not to snore. I know nobody snores on purpose. But if you are a snorer, you probably know it. If you are, don’t fall asleep. Even though I could say to do this out of concern for others, do it so you don’t wind up on TikTok!
Disclosure: Both are reasons my wife doesn’t let me sleep on planes!
This happened once. Someone behind us was snoring so loudly that I could hear them over the plane’s noise and through my noise-canceling headphones. It was disturbing, annoying, and just inconsiderate. Yes, you have a right to be comfortable and to sleep if you can. Taking away everyone else’s right to comfort by snoring loudly severely violates good airplane etiquette.
Don’t Be a Drunk
Nobody enjoys having a few drinks more than me. I’ve had to share planes with drunk people, though, so I know not to have more than one or two drinks on a flight. You get dehydrated enough lying anyway. One of the most appreciated rules of flying etiquette is to control your alcohol intake during flights.
Someone who drinks too much, gets drunk, and flies, annoys the other adults and scares the kids. Don’t be that person.
Drinking fewer alcoholic drinks is one way to stay hydrated during your flight. Learn other ways to stay hydrated while flying and the important reasons why you want to!
Don’t Keep the Middle Row and Window Seat Passengers Prisoners
It’s not healthy to sit for several hours, which might be the duration of a flight. Unless there is turbulence or another danger, it is always a good idea to get up, stretch your legs, and walk around. I read an article that said to only get up at convenient times. That is true. When people are waiting for the drink cart, don’t be the person who makes the flight attendants have to push the cart all the way back to a bulkhead because you didn’t get up when you had the chance.
I always watch for an opportunity to get up. Even if I don’t have to go, I take a Preemptive Strike. That means I get up when I can so that I don’t reach a point where I’m desperate. This is especially important to keep in mind if you have the aisle seat. Don’t make a person who is too shy to ask you to get up or who doesn’t want to bother anyone suffer by making them sit in the middle row for the entire flight.
I always tell the person to feel free to let me know if they need to get up for anything, so they don’t sit and suffer. It’s good for you to get up, stretch your legs, and get your blood flowing, and the other passengers will really appreciate your giving them a chance. It shows them kindness, improves their travel experience, and maybe they’ll show the same kindness next time they have an aisle seat. Furthermore, it shows courteous flight etiquette.
Why You Shouldn’t Let Your Legs Fall Asleep
Remember the narrow aisles? Hanging on to those seats looks like a good way to balance, doesn’t it? If you sit too long and your legs get wobbly, it’s going to be that much more difficult to keep your balance. The longer you sit, the more likely you will need to grab seats as you walk down the aisle. See more on grabbing seats below.
Bring Activities for Your Kids to Enjoy
Kids are way better than we are about not sitting too much. A long flight might be too long for them to sit. Watch for opportunities to take Preemptive Strikes. Bring something for them to do. Something to read, something to color, toys to play with, movies to watch, games to play. Maybe a game you can play with them or a movie you can watch with them.
On our long flights to Spain, we got my kid two surprises. A few hours into the flight, we gave her some new toys for being good. That occupied her for a while. Then we gave her some surprise Crayons and a coloring book. That kept her occupied for the entire flight.
Turbulence and ears popping can make air travel difficult enough for children, so don’t let boredom become another challenge for you. Even though bringing them something to do doesn’t guarantee they won’t get bored, it’s worth doing so. It doesn’t seem like I see children misbehaving very often. When I do, though, I feel bad for the kids and the parents. I feel quite fortunate that I never suffered that embarrassment, and I hope you never do.
Furthermore, our children take cues from us. They mimic our behavior, so remember to model kindness and courtesy when interacting with other travelers. They’ll eventually practice the same flight etiquette practices we do.
Flying Etiquette for Seats, Aisles, and Tray Tables
Airlines seem to have defied the laws of physics and made the seating even smaller for us. Because of this, it’s more important than ever that we know the best manners to ensure we all have a pleasant flying experience.
Don’t Attack the Person Behind You (Vital to Airplane Etiquette)
Not immediately. Rather, don’t recline your seat immediately.
The thing with airplane seats is that your seat is someone else’s wall, and your dining table is attached to someone else’s seat.
I’ve heard people say that you shouldn’t recline. My opinion is that if the seat reclines, then you have the right to recline it. That means that if the seat in front of me reclines, the person in that seat has the right to recline it. The reason for that is when you lean back, your seat moves right into someone’s face. Be cool about it.
When you recline your seat, do it slowly, don’t slam it back, remember there’s a person behind you.
The flight attendants always ask that we keep our seats upright until the seatbelt light is turned off. Don’t recline your seat as soon as the wheels leave the ground. For one thing, be nicer to the person behind you than that. For another thing, the airlines have that rule for a reason, so wait until the seatbelt sign is turned off for everyone’s comfort and to uphold the best airplane etiquette.
Treat Your Tray Table With Respect
Few things make me more nervous than the flight attendant handing me a brimming cup of coffee for me to place on the tray table, which is somebody’s seat. I’m not sure whether it’s an aviation miracle or the care and consideration of passengers, but it surprises me that more drinks aren’t spilled on airplanes. In that area, we do quite well. Still, we all benefit from following airplane etiquette on board.
When I set a drink, a laptop, or my phone on the tray table, I have to keep in mind that it is attached to someone’s seat, and I cannot freak out if they recline and jostle whatever I put on the table. That also means we can’t slam the tray open or closed, bang on the tray, or bang on the seat. Even if we get mad at something. Even if we get mad at the person in front of us.
Remember the 2021 video of a guy deliberately banging on the seat to annoy the person in front of him? He was angry, claiming she had somehow broken his computer. Unless she broke his computer on purpose, he should have realized the truth about the tray table. He should have acted like a mature adult in a world where things don’t always go the way we want. Banging on the seat continuously was childish and disruptive to everyone on the plane, quite undignified. Behaving with dignity and self-respect always ensures friendly flight etiquette.
Just remember, we’re all in this together. Your seat back is somebody else’s tray table, and your tray table is somebody else’s seat.
Share the Armrests To Show the Best Flying Etiquette
Flying in coach, you have to share at least one armrest. In the middle seats, you have to share both armrests. Don’t hog the armrests. More than just proper flying etiquette, sharing armrests is an act of kindness and consideration.
If you notice you’ve been using the armrest for a while, remove your elbows from it and offer it to the other passengers. They are just as uncomfortable as you are.
Here are two more ways you can be extra nice. If you’re sitting in the aisle seat, let the person next to you use your right armrest, which is their left armrest. You have the armrest on your aisle side that you don’t have to share.
If you’re in the window seat, then share your left armrest. You have an armrest by the window that you don’t have to share. If the person by the seat and the person by the window are hogging both armrests, that leaves the person in the middle squeezed between them, with no place to rest their arms. It’s just a nice thing to do to make the flight as pleasant as possible for as many people as possible and demonstrates thoughtful airplane etiquette.
Don’t Use Seats to Balance as You Walk The Aisles
Using the seat backs for balance is so tempting! The narrow aisles make it difficult enough to walk without bumping people or seats. Plus, they’re right there when you feel like you’re losing your balance. You can lean to the left or right against the seats without jostling them as much. The main thing is to avoid pulling the seats back and pushing them forward while walking the aisle.
As much as I need to get up and stretch my legs occasionally, sometimes the flight is too bumpy. If I can’t navigate the aisle without using seat backs to balance, I delay my trips to the lavatory.
Don’t Use the Seat in Front of You to Pull Yourself Up
It takes some coordination to stand up from an airplane seat, especially if you don’t grab the seat in front of you. But remember that the seat you’re pulling up to is someone else’s seat. It is very annoying to have someone behind you pulling on your seat to get up. They might be sleeping or drinking a hot beverage, and you could wake them up or cause them to spill hot coffee or tea on themselves.
I’m sure that you have experienced it. It’s not that much more difficult to just push yourself up from the armrests, which you are hopefully sharing with the passengers next to you. Yes, it is difficult to stand up in that little space. If the person behind you uses the seat in front of them to pull themselves up. It’s going to jostle you, wake you up, and cause you to spill hot coffee on your brand new shirt.
Soar With Flight Etiquette
Those small spaces and unpredictable turbulence can make practicing thoughtful flight etiquette challenging. Give yourself grace when you make mistakes. Do your best to be courteous and kind, and forgive yourself when you make a mistake. That mindset will go a long way towards making air travel more enjoyable for everyone. While that mindset will help make the travel world better, remember the Lord’s prayer:
Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Mattew 6:12
While it’s important to practice good manners when flying, it’s just as important not to overreact when others cause you inconvenience.
How Should We Behave Before Our Flights? I thought you’d never ask! I detailed simple ways to practice Preflight Etiquette to also make that part of travel better for everyone.
Before you gracefully fly and arrive at your destination with dignity, you’ll want to know these travel tips to get the most out of your entire travel experience.
It will also be helpful to know which airlines have the most, or least, complaints about different aspects of the flying experience.