The Wall Street Journal has an article that we could barely finish about absolutely disgusting behavior that air travelers are exhibiting on airplanes. The article details the foul, rude and unsanitary things that you all are doing out of some sort of misguided aggression towards the airline. We have news for you, pig pen, you’re only hurting yourselves… or, more specifically, the next guy to sit in that seat.
From the WSJ:
Patrick Kerr, who like Mr. Cuzzone participated in a FlyerTalk.com online discussion among frequent travelers of disgusting things people do aboard airplanes, was flying from Reno, Nev., to Dallas when a nearby passenger put a wad of chewing tobacco in his mouth and spit juice into a plastic cup throughout the flight.
As passengers left the plane, Mr. Kerr, a technology manager in St. Louis, said, the man made one last deposit then tucked the cup deep into the seat pocket.
“I said, ‘Hey, you left that.’ And he said, ‘It’s OK. They’ll get it,’ ” said Mr. Kerr, who then alerted a flight attendant.
Flight attendants often say that the biggest messes they have to deal with are dirty diapers left in seat-back pockets or worse, handed to them while they are serving beverages and snacks. “Would you hand that off to your server at a restaurant?” said Corey Caldwell, a spokeswoman for the Association of Flight Attendants, a union representing workers at several big airlines. “It’s amazing how people treat the inside of aircraft cabins as opposed to other public spaces.”
My god, were you people raised by wolves? Clean up after yourselves.
“Putting a melting chocolate bar in a seatback is a way of punishing the airline for shoddy treatment,” said Robert Bor, a clinical aviation psychologist in London.
We disagree. Evil behavior such as this is actually a way to punish nice people who just happen to be on the airplane after you, and who would really rather not be covered in what appears to be baby vomit, the possible origin of which will plague them for days afterward.
Can you think of some more constructive ways to punish an airline for poor service? Department of Transportation complaint? Nasty letter to your mutual fund manager about excessive airline CEO pay? Amtrak?
Flying Foul: Passengers Behaving Badly [Yahoo!]
(Photo: JohnKit )
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You could ask if these people would do the same thing @home. Sadly the answer would be yes.
Here’s an idea, if you want to “punish” the airline, withhold your business.
I live in Boston, and I see this on the T everyday. People drop banana peels, snotty tissues, and other garbage. It’s gross.
@madrigal: Ive been riding the T for the past 6 months and havent seen that behavior yet. knock on steel.
I was flying first class once (blew all my frequent flyer miles for my honeymoon) and saw a woman change a baby right next to me. Not really the first class experience I had in mind. She got up to do it again later and the flight attendant made her go to the bathroom to do it, which seemed to highly offend her.
Great, as if people really needed to combine fears of flying with germ phobia. Gah, unclean! Unclean!
AS long as all the laws allow the airlines to crap all over people, people will cling to behaviors that give them any slight illusion of having some control.
I ask the same thing (would you do that at home?) about the people who use my workplace men’s room, in an office building with supposed professionals. I swear there are people who drop their pants, and then spin in a wild circle while urinating.
I believe this kind of stuff is common with most forms of public transportation, I’ve seen it on city buses, airplanes and Greyhound coaches.
I’m all for the Amtrak method of punishing the airlines. Much better for the environment too.
I agree, its amazing how unclean some people are. As Unklegwar stated, I work in a professional building complex as week and I frequently see people from other floors coming to use the bathrooms on my floor and making a huge mess in there. I swear some people need to be dragged outside and beat or possibly even put down.
I remember flying on Spirit Airlines the first couple of months they started operating and by that point some douchbag parent let his child scribble on the back of a couple of seats with magic marker and crayon.
Kinda wish they make you pass a common sense / IQ test before going to the movies, flying on a plane and getting a drivers license.
@Technick: Not to mention having children…
There are a few movie theaters that now have premium theaters. They offer tables, servers to bring meals to you right in the theater, in some cases cocktails and children-free showings. Of course they charge a premium.
It seems to me that there could be a premium airline (not simply first class, but a dedicated flight) that would have all the amenities that used to be part of civilized travel. Highly trained and attentive staff, better food service, no nickel & dime extras, no kids, large, well spaced seats, on and on and on. Basically eliminating all the annoyances we all have come to expect as part of air travel.
And just like a a hot nightclub, you’d have to behave (and dress) appropriately. You don’t, and you’re banned from future flights.
I think a enough people would be willing to pay for the reduced hassle for an airline like this to be highly profitable.
Hmmn, Perhaps Richard Branson could make a separate division, Extra Virgin Airlines?
The headline in use here is perfect, except remove “Air Travelers” and insert “Everybody” in its place.
People are, as a rule, disgusting, filthy, self-righteous, self-important people who believe that rules — even common courtesies — apply to everyone except them. I find myself more frequently cheering on the bad guy who wants to destroy the world in all those sci-fi movies.
I’m not surprised. Every time I’ve flown on an airplane (with the exception of Singapore Airlines), there’s been some big mess in the plane, whether it be a still wet puke stain to a kid taking a dump on the ground outside the bathroom (not kidding).
I’ve seen cleaner alleyways than airplanes. And it’s only going to get worse as all the airlines are trying to cut costs.
Come on, what are you supposed to do with your trash? There’s no waste receptacle next to the seat. If the only thing that flight attendants have to complain about is people handing or leaving them trash, then the airline business must be doing pretty well. But I think we all know that isn’t the case.
Fact: People suck. I’ve seen people change diapers on dining tables at restaurants. People smoke and litter on public transportation. Public property gets vandalized and destroyed all the time by numbskulls who threaten people (me) when they are asked to stop. I think Singapore got it right when they caned that U.S.-born delinquint for vandalism.
I agree with most of what’s been said, although the flight attendant shill comparing the plane cabin to a restaurant is a bit of a stretch.
Maybe passengers hand the diapers to an attendant while they’re serving because it’s so &$*#ing difficult to get out of your row in the first place and they shoot you the stink eye if you get out of your seat while the drink cart is deployed.
If I was in a restaurant and had that kind of mobility, then yeah, I’d probably hand a used diaper to a server.
@SkokieGuy: Would you really be willing to pay more? How much more? I think the demand for lower costs is why we have such a lack of service in the first place.
Perhaps it would be best to get rid of the attendants all together. When was the last time one actually attended to the needs of a customer? Their role is long gone, it’s time to cut the overpaid, lazy attendants and give that money back to the customer.
@buzzybee: I can’t believe anyone would even consider changing a baby’s diaper in a cramped airline seat inches from a perfect stranger. That is so disgusting and incredibly rude that it should be punished by being tossed out of the plane at 35,000 feet. I don’t care how difficult it is to get up. I’ll gladly move for you rather than be subjected to that. And I would definitely politely but firmly object if someone started to do that beside me.
I believe this has little to do with punishing the airlines. People are just slobs. We live near the waterfront, and all summer hundreds of people come to the nearby town beach and walk the trails along the bay across from our house. Every morning I go out and clean up bag after bag full of their crap. Yes — dirty diapers. Styrofoam take-out containers. Dog poop. Hollowed-out cantaloupe rinds. From the late-night crowd: beer bottles (often smashed) and used condoms.
It’s simple laziness and thoughtlessness. “Someone else will pick it up.”
People in general are pigs. I worked in a toy store, and one day while closing, we found a dirty diaper BEHIND the Chutes and Ladders boxes. SERIOUSLY! When I worked in a movie theater, someone found a large cup filled with urine. I always clean up after myself wherever I am because I have been that person cleaning a movie theater alone after a sold out kids movie.
With all due respect, if you want people to behave as if they were in a restaurant or at home … then treat them that way.
Seats that are so cramped as to make one feel they are in a sardine can??
Taking away meals??
Taking away headsets??
Try going to a restaurant that sticks you in a corner and doesn’t serve you food and see how much respect the customers give the staff.
@ElizabethD: I HATE people who litter. I feel those people are almost the worst scum imaginable. We SHOULD punish it by caning ala Singapore.
@johnva: What I’d like to see are more people speaking up for themselves when they see this happen. I wouldn’t hesitate to tell the person “Hey, you take that kid into the lavatory right now because you are not exposing its shit three feet from my face.” It disgusts me that other people would be appalled, but wouldn’t act, as if their courtesy is merited in spite of the other person’s lack of it.
The same goes for leaving messes and other disgusting habits, though it’s a lot less offensive than a face full of poo.
@buzzybee: You carried the item/trash on the plane with you and now you’re saying that you can’t carry it off with you?
I agree I’ve seen some pretty crappy things on airlines, That also goes for a movie theater. I’m still dumbfounded by how many people lazily leave all their junk food trash behind and how much they spill.
@keith4298: I don’t buy this theory that it’s about “punishing the airlines”. If that was the case, then why are these people doing things that punish their fellow passengers as well? I think they are just disgusting scumbags who should not be allowed out of a fenced confinement area.
“It’s amazing how people ARE treatED ON the inside of aircraft cabins as opposed to other public spaces.”
FTFY
@keith4298: For some reason your “coach class” pocket book mentality seems to imply that you deserve “first class” You pay more, you get more.
Don’t blame the airline for providing affordability.
Been in a public restroom lately? Sometimes it’s like someone stood in a stall, bent over, and played gatling gun with their excrement. I don’t for a moment believe people do that in their own homes.
Some people are just assholes, plain and simple, and are the reasons why we as a society can’t have anything nice.
I agree, in all my years of flying, I’ve seen people do disgusting things on airplanes for one reason or another…
Usually, they are the first to complain when something isn’t exactly right for them…
Yuck. This is why I hope tickets go up in the long run, so idiots like that are priced out of air travel.
From a story here several weeks ago.
The Good News: your seatmate didn’t ejaculate all over the seats.
The Bad News: your seatmate did so all over you.
You know, often its not the act itself but rather the way its performed that makes it obnoxious/insulting. I chew tobacco on nearly every long haul flight. I put the Skoal into my mouth neatly and discreetly, I spit into a small bottle which is opened and closed upon each use. You probably would never know i had chewed the entire flight next to you, which has nothing to do with the chewing tobacco and everything to do with the fact that i am a considerate and polite person.
The fact that the flyer spit into an open cup the entire flight is rude and inconsiderate, but leaving the cup in the seat back is flat out disgusting. But before anyone crucifies the person for the use of chewing tobacco on the flight (and before some know it all has to prove their knowledge, I dont care if it is or isn’t “allowed” on planes), while i enjoy my Skoal in peace i bare witness to the most inconsiderate behavior i have ever seen.
The real issue here is that this guy was ignorant to or totally unconcerned with how his use of chew could be unpleasant to other passengers. As for leaving the cup of spit in the back of the seat, his answer displayed the mentality behind the act itself. That mentality is “i am going to do what i want, when i want, and since i paid for this flight i will leave behind whatever disgusting garbage i feel like leaving.”
@Milstar: No, not really. I don’t think it’s my responsibility to carry trash off the plane when I’m paying someone to do it for me.
Their plane, their job to keep it clean. Not mine.
As a teenager, my friends always complained about how messy my car was – food wrappers and such all over the floor.
“Why don’t you just throw it out the window?”
Sorry… I don’t mind the mess, really but I’m not going to inflict on other people. It’s so rude (and illegal).
“My god, were you people raised by wolves?”
Ah Meg, this comment made my morning.
@Youthier: My parents taught me not to litter when I was still a toddler. I can’t believe anyone can actually reach adulthood and still be such a pig.
@buzzybee: You’re the guy who can’t carry his empty popcorn bucket out of the movie theater too, aren’t you?
‘So Bob what do you do for a living?’
‘Oh I’m a clinical aviation psychologist’
…. wait, what?
Actually, I am a server in a restaurant and the crap people hand me and especially leave on their tables for the busboy to clean up is disgusting. I don’t think this is limited to airlines, I think that some people just don’t feel the need to clean up after themselves.
A lot of the people flying these days have very little class, but flying itself has transformed into such a crass experience that you can hardly blame the passengers.
Somehow, I don’t think this behavior was prevalent 25 years ago, when flying was a little more refined, when you weren’t crammed into a tiny seat and tossed a bag of pretzels if you’re lucky.
And yet, if you were to smash a hammer into the nose of one of these boors, YOU would be the one going to jail. frigging ridiculous.
I could care less about any of this stuff if you other travelers would just TAKE A SHOWER!!!
Seriously…
I’d so quickly trade all flying for $2/gal gas! Who cares if it would take longer to get there.
@mhedgesjr: So, like most tobacco users, you really don’t care so much about the “rules”. Is that what you were trying to justify in that post?
After playing baseball for many years and being around the stuff all the time, it’s just disgusting. And unless you chew/dip the unscented stuff, the people next to you can smell it just fine.
No one should be surprised about any activity people undertake with regard to their kids and babies. After all, THEIR baby is special.
I am not at all surprised that a parent would hand a diaper to a flight attendant or stick it in a seat back.
In the case of babies people DO bring them into movie theatres (the heck with everyone elses viewing experience), into nice restaurants (the heck with everyone elses dining experience), and get morally outraged if they can’t breastfeed in public. Why do you expect any behaviour other than absolute ‘it is all about me’ from them on an airplane?
@jdmba: got no problem with breastfeeding in public cause i like boobies.
I’ve changed an infant diaper in an airline seat. There wasn’t much choice. The Southwest flight from the east coast to Oakland landed four times, and in flight, the seat belt sign would only go off for 10 minutes. Half of the people in line for the restroom wouldn’t even get to go, before they were herded back to their seats.
My daughter was about a year old, and every time the plane took off, her ears would hurt, she’d scream, and blow a huge wad of extremely smelly diarrhea into her diaper. Now, we could have let her scream, and allowed the front half of the plane to smell like sulfur, for the entire trip. But no, each take off, we cleaned her up, which silenced the screams, we deposited the diaper in the airsickness bag, and sealed it up. Viola, only a few moments of unpleasantness, rather than spending hours and hours listening to a child scream, with microscopic bits of turd tickling your nose hairs.
And no, we didn’t stuff the full bag o dirty diapers under the seat.
To anyone who is shocked by babies being changed in the open cabin, I invite them to try changing a baby in the airplane restroom.
Taking a baby on a flight is about as tricky as changing out the transmission on a Fiero.
if you’re a pig in public, generally you’re worse in private. i would not under any circumstances want to get near the people that do things like that.
the chaw is extra gross. not only is that a habit that requires spitting as an integral part of it, leaving a cup of your spit and partially broken down chewing tobacco in a public area is about as disgusting as vomiting into something and leaving that there.
@jdmba: considerate parents give their kids baby benadryl before flights and don’t take them to the movies. it depends what you define as a “nice” restaurant. i’ve never seen a baby in a restaurant that wasn’t designated as a family dining establishment. outback, applebees, chillis, all those places and those like them have kids menus and therefore expect kids to be there.
breastfeeding in public should be allowed. the actual point of mammary tissue is to produce milk and feed offspring. it’s not comparable to bringing a baby to a movie theater or handing a dirty diaper to a flight attendant.
@sgodun:
I entirely agree. Oftentimes I’ve thought, “Now I see why the villains turned into villains. Are they so wrong about society?”@
href=”#c5569496″>axiomatic:
Agreed. I sat behind this guy on the plane who must not have taken a shower for a week. It was so bad, I took my breath freshener spray and rubbed it under my nose. Oh and then he took off his hat and proceeded to scratch carefully at his head for ten minutes.
UGHHHHHHH.
People should be screened for that. A smell-o-meter would be nice.
outback? chillis? applebees?
those are “nice” restaurants to you?
wow.