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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Above posters are right that these disgusting acts are not protests
towards poor service … these acts are the logical nadir of the
commoditization of air travel. With fares and service quality so low,
planes are the buses of today. After years of passengers simply buying
the lowest priced ticket possible (myself included) this is the bed
that is made. Diaper changing, credit card pitches, seat bumpings, etc.
And to the above posters who chew tobacco and change diapers in seats,
but you know, its cool because they were totally discreet about it and
stuff … you are still disgusting. Discreetness does not make a
disgusting, public act acceptable.
@buzzybee: “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.”
There’s trash, then there’s the things described above. Empty candy wrappers? Fine. Used drink containers, scrap paper, etc.? Fine. Spittoons full of used tobacco and dirty diapers? Not so much.
Besides, in order to maximise profits a lot of flights nowadays operate on razor-thin turnaround times. Next time your flight is delayed, think about this – maybe it was the asswipe on the flight before you who caused it by leaving crap that took an extra 10 minutes to clean, causing the flight to lose its takeoff window.
@irid3sc3nt: if you’d read it i said “it depends what you define as”.
to the average american those ARE the “nice” restaurants. the actual “nice” don’t even allow children under a certain age in a lot of cases.
@ buzzybee at 10:31 AM
Seriously, dude. Trash is a crumpled pretzel bag, your used drink glass, an old magazine, etc. No, it’s not the attendant’s duty to take it, but they’ll do it.
A diaper isn’t trash. It’s a plastic wrapper full of sh*t. Would you want a total stranger to hand that to YOU?
I got in a airline seat once and found a dirty diaper in the seat pocket. That’s unspeakably gross. I don’t really care the excuse. Cleaning feces and urine should not be done where people are going to have to sit confined for hours on end.
Face it – the airline industry has turned itself into the flying bus industry. The glamour is gone, the standards are no longer enforced – it’s all about maximizing the benjamins.
I remember, as a kid, having to dress like I was going to church to go to the airport.
Now, not so much…
Let’s hear a shout out to the lowest common denominator!
I used to work for an airline and the absolute worst thing people would leave in seat back pockets were used syringes. Diapers are unsanitary and just plain gross, but think about all the health risks that syringes open up. And what’s worse, there were routes that were more predisposed to this kind of behavior.
@Large: ATL?
I believe that such behavior comes from a deep-seated psychological urge to resist subjection, & when resistance is infeasible, to strike back. It’s why most people drive aggressively, litter, talk during the movie, take 2 parking spaces, blast that big booty bass, etc. The mentality is like this: I paid $500 for this flight, I can do what I want, f**k the airline industry; I paid $8 for this movie, I do what I want; I have to sit in rush hour traffic, I’ll drive how I want. The thing is, if we collectively stopped this behavior, things would be much better, & we wouldn’t feel the urge. Instead, it’s a feedback loop, & bad behavior breeds bad behavior.
@SkokieGuy:
There was a premium only airline.
It was MGM Grand Air.
Flew only between LA & NYC.
It’s out of business, not enough people wanted to pay for it.
I think this article needs a “Bad Consumer” tag.
Another tragedy of the commons. Can’t escape it.
@katylostherart:
Only a person with some form of mental retardation would arbitrarily give their kids baby benadryl when it is not need for an illness.
@boxjockey68: for thousands of years people have been giving kids little nips of alcohol in bottles without any longlasting ill side effects. or another recommendation has been drink a glass of wine and then breastfeed the child. it’s just enough to make them drowsy, not enough to hurt them. benedryl is also not really for illness it’s for allergic reactions. it’s not the same as arbitrarily handing out antibiotics for viral infections. it doesn’t treat illnesses it alleviates symptoms. giving a kid a dose of benedryl doesn’t make the kid’s immune system weaker and doesn’t contribute to antibiotic resistant bacterial strains.
@unklegwar: Heh, I agree…where I work we have two buildings, one is largely populated by around 200 18-25 year old video game testers, the other, around 200 executives, producers, sales, marketing etc….guess which building causes more problems…..
These people were born in a barn and raised by wolves.
I just came back from home in the UK to NYC via BA. Right when our ‘meal’ came (which if you call fish pie consisting of a tin of Whiskas with a Stove-Top Stuffing top a ‘meal’) this woman decided to change the nappies of her no-longer-breast-feeding child in the row next to me, instead of going into the bog where they actually have changing tables. The scent story was sheer hell.
Hmm, when did airlines become the Greyhound Buses of the skies? I’ll conjecture that if someone did their NY Times research they’d find articles going back to the 1960′s at least complaining about the rude manners of air travelers. It’s just that today it’s more prevalent.
Granted, changing a dirty diaper in the cabin is gross, but where else is a parent supposed to do it? I don’t even have children but I can’t imagine trying to change a diaper in a cramped airplane bathroom. What, are you supposed to put the baby in the sink?
@redsonia7: i saw a woman change a diaper on a table at a mall foodcourt once. i guess you could put the lid down on the toilet seat and try to change the baby back there. there’s more room in the bathrooms than there is in your lap really.
i haven’t flown in a while and didn’t think to check but are there handicap accessible bathrooms on planes? if there’s enough room for a wheelchair there’s enough room for a baby. now i’m really wondering if there are, because i mean, if you have the capability to put a wheel chair on the plane (and i’ve seen those) wouldn’t you have to provide adequate facilities beyond that?
Having children involves sacrifice. Maybe one of those sacrifices should be leaving the little shit-factories at home, or at least off the airplane, until they can control when they crap.
And since I’m going to get flamed for that statement, I’ll continue. One positive consequence of the increasing inaffordability of air travel is that the riff raff who does this kinds of things will be priced out of air travel.
Dirty diaper incidents make me want to scream, “IT DOES NOT TAKE A VILLAGE!”
Recently, I was on a flight and heard a “tick…tick” in front of me. I peered through the middle of the seats, and to my horror the older lady in front of me was clipping her nails! It was as if the E train suddenly sprouted wings.
@mhedgesjr: Dude. You may be polite, but perhaps you don’t realize the rest of us can smell this. If I was next to you and was at all aware you were doing such a thing, I’d probably vomit…in your lap.
@irid3sc3nt: So do you have to be rich to be smug? I wonder what that feels like. Let me ask, do you only consider 5 star restaurants to be nice? remember serendiptiy(sp)? Yeah how classy can a place infested with roaches be? I’d rather eat at a whole in the wall waffle house anyday. And for those born with silver spoons up your asses, you don’t know what you are missing.
@legotech: As a former tester myself, I can vouch for things like this. _I_ was always showered, but then again, I also clean up after myself on planes.
There should be a ‘middle class’ in airlines that has the same cost as coach but is only available to well-behaved frequent travelers. I’d go out of my way to fly on an airline that did that.
people react most to 2 things: grades and penalties. therefore, i propose each passenger gets graded and penalized according to the way they treat their airline seat. and it wouldn’t be public. the stewardess would just walk around, and if she finds dirty tissues/used diapers/melted chocolate/etc., you get a bad grade and your next airline ticket will be a little more expensive. sure there are other rules that have to be in place, but that’s just an idea.
Maybe this is just a JetBlue “exclusive,” but after they hand out food, and before they land, the ladies come around with trash bags and ask you for your trash, and if you don’t have the decency to throw your trash away, then you need to be taught a lesson.
@buzzybee: No. You are paying for getting from point a to point b. You are not paying for the right to be a slob.
Oh you poor people having to deal with a baby’s nappy being changed in front of you. Poor things.
Bet you complain about breast feeding, and the fact babys are just terrible with English too.
/you were all babies once, dollars to donuts you were exposed publically like this
@seamer:
You owe me a dollar and a doughnut.
On a PDX to LGA flight, I had to ask the young German couple next to me to stop making out. What are people thinking?
@apotheosis:
As well as withholding business, waste their time and money. The next time you’re at the airport, get their managers out to “address problems” of your own invention. Or, call the company’s 1-800 repeatedly from a phone booth. Take up the time they are supposed to be doing other things to generate revenue and prevent it.
Then when you’ve finished, let them know their lousy service is why you’ve taken up their time and made them lose money. This does not apply, however, to check in lines at the airport, since you would be inconveniencing other customers – do it only with their management.
I puked on a flight or two before. I always made it in the bag but I always felt really bad for the suckers sitting next to me.
I was on a flight once where the asshole next to me pulled both a large liquor bottle and porn mag out of his carry-on bag. Yes, this was post-911.
@seamer: As a matter of fact, many people who support public breastfeeding and proper changing facilities (like myself) just don’t feel the need to be exposed to the olfactory experience of proximal poo in close quarters (it’s not as if I can escape). You might be desensitized to the smell, but I’m not.
This applies to other behavior as well…for instance, if the people on the third floor in my building had simply asked whether it was ok to keep their open stroller in the narrow hallway between my apartment and the front door, I would have said, “of course!” But, they didn’t.
I realize parenting is tough, and know there are occasional emergencies or times in which you are so tired you may not realize you have left the next passenger a “surprise” in the front seat pocket. However, I’d say about 45% of parents engage in obliviously rude behavior, as if the world needs to stop for them and their precious spawn.
Additionally, 10% of that 45% are fully aware, and don’t give two shits about the rest of us.
The airline staff isn’t there to pick up after your entitled @ass. They are there to shove your corpulent @ss out in an emergency while you are whining about the lack of slaves to pick up after you.
If the kid can’t behave, it shouldn’t be there. Even at DisneyWorld.
I work retail and I’m never going to be paid enough to pick up after you. Many’s the time that a customer wants me to throw away their trash. No speeek Eenglish. I’d rather tell you to go f**k yourself but I respect my co-workers (who’d have to deal with your whine) too much to subject them to listening to your stoopid
@seamer: So you would be okay if I dropped my pants and put my ass in your face? Is that okay on a crowded flight? What if I crapped on my tray table and started playing with the poop? I would build a poop castle just for you.
@apotheosis: It’s amazing what a good ol’ fashion BOYCOTT could do for this country. A shame people are too afraid to “give it up”!
I don’t have a kid, but my sister does. The changing tables in most (all?) airline bathrooms have a 25 pound weight limit. I’m fairly certain (although those of you with children are free to correct me) that most two year olds not only exceed that weight limit but have not yet been been potty trained, and parents don’t have much choice but to change the diapers in the seats. What are they going to do with their babies – lay them down on the nasty bathroom floor? At which point there is now no room for the adult to stand, much less bend over or squat down and change a diaper.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m no more in favor of having a stinky diaper changed in front of me than the next guy, but what’s a parent with a child who weighs more than 25 pounds and is not yet potty trained to do?
@katylostherart: It’s appalling of you to suggest that to be considerate a parent must drug their children and knock them out. And if you think a sleeping child means no dirty diapers, you’ve never met a baby.
@katylostherart: That’s not even a little bit true. Where on earth do you live? I have plenty of memories of eating in white-tablecloth restaurants when I was a small child, along with a few memories of being whisked out of there like the building was burning when I acted up.
You could use plastic wire ties to strap the seat belt ends together – wastes the airline’s time removing them, nondestructive, and it doesn’t leave anything for the next flier to sit in.
Assuming your wire ties aren’t confiscated by security on the way in.
@katylostherart: What is wrong with people here? It’s not ok to drug your children!
God, I just noticed I’ve been replying to the same person every time. Congratulations, winner of the prestigous Consumerist “Screw everyone who’s not me award.” Believe me, the competition was fierce.
People are filthy beasts. I don’t use airline blankets and pillows anymore because I’ve seen one too many people wiping their noses on blankets, sneezing and coughing into them,and wiping their dirty hands on them. And god forbid if someone who has lice uses a pillow before me.
I dress warmly in layers and never wear shorts or skirts to avoid needing a blanket. And I bring my own travel pillow for long flights.
I also turn down hotel bedspreads and blankets because I saw a news report that said hotels generally only wash them once a month. When I think of all the nasty body fluids that accumulate over the span of a month…yuck. I don’t want them touching any exposed part of my body.
Traveling on an airplane with babies would put the fear of god in my heart. I don’t know how people do it. Between carrying all that extra crap through the airport (the supplies not the kids), worrying about them crying on the flight, finding somewhere to feed (assuming breastfeeding) and change them, it’s seems like a nightmare. I tip my hat to those who do it.
I am all for the Benedryl drugging. A crying baby is too much stress on everybody and clearly the baby isn’t happy either. My friend’s sister flies back and forth to Europe on a monthly basis and won’t fly without knocking her baby out first.
What people think is acceptable behavior in public (on a plane, wherever) is absolutely revolting. I wasn’t a germaphobe before I started reading Consumerist, but the things I’ve read on here about hotels, planes, restaurants… I’m an avid antibacterial hand lotion user now!
I once sat next to a toddler and mother on a Southwest flight. The little guy was forced to tinkle in his Mom’s empty coffee cup. She promptly put the lid on the offensive liquid and called the attendant over for trash, who was only more than happy to unknowingly dispose of the little cutie’s waste. I’m a mother of young children, and this was just more than I could handle. I couldn’t complain to the airline – we asked for the masses to be able to afford airline travel, and now the masses can afford it, and they treat it like their former Greyhound bus, as other readers have noted. In our society of instant gratification, we simply don’t have time or can’t be bothered to deal with the messes we make.
@Kajj: Personally, I don’t think there is anything wrong with doing what she’s talking about. It’s not harmful, and the baby (not to mention the other passengers) is going to be a lot happier if they can sleep.
@TVGenius: I’ll remember that the next time
I’ll remember that the next time I have to go to Oklahoma from LA
(sorry about the double post, it submitted midway through writing.)
@seamer: Its not merely the sight or smell of a diaper being changed. Its the idea of leaked fluids and feces being deposited on the seats and tray. Seats and tray that are rarely ever cleaned, let along cleaned to remove something like that. How would you feel if you sat in a pool of diarrhea seepage? These are functions that need to take place in an appropriate location- not a seat.
What’s with all these lazy people handing their nasty garbage to the flight attendant to throw away?!! A lunch tray and empty cup is one thing but soiled diapers and cups of urine?!! That’s just vile.
And wait a minute, you mean people are changing diapers in their seats and then handing the dirty diaper to the attendant to throw away?!! Who are these people and where do they come from? Please don’t tell me they are folding down the food tray to put the baby on. If I witnessed that I would ask for an immediate seat change.
At the very least, go to the back and lay the baby down on the floor on a changing pad. That’s the purpose of a changing pad–to provide a comfortable and sanitary place to lay your baby down to change him. There should never be any whining about there’s no place to change my baby. Be it on a changing table, on the floor or on the hood of a car, if you have a changing pad, you’ve always got a spot to change your baby.
Any parent who leaves home without a changing pad and pad liners (a must to to keep the pad clean and sanitary) ought to be arrested.