Korean Job Discussion Forums

[periwinkle]

Travelers' rule book: Behavior 101
http://travel.news.yahoo.com/b/b_correa/b_correa17369



There are no formal requirements to buying an airplane ticket and boarding a plane, other than coming up with some cash and passing security. But maybe flying should be more of a privilege, with its own rule book.

Virginia Flores, a human resources and technical consultant to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, among other clients, flies every week for business and has come up with a comprehensive set of basic do's and don'ts for air passengers that I think is worth sharing. Its section titles suggest the almost kindergarten-like inability of some travelers to play well with others.


Everyone knows air travel is a lot less comfortable than it once was. The trick is how to learn to live with it. Here are Flores' suggestions:


Learn how to share armrest space. The airlines should have thought this through a little bit. Two armrests for three sets going across are simply not enough. Let's face it; even though people have the best of intentions, the natural inclination is to put your arm smack dab on the armrest. The whole armrest. I have gotten into elbow wars with people who think that because they got stuck in a middle seat, their consolation price should be the entire armrest. That almost earned one gentleman I traveled with my laptop as a headdress.

Rearranging overhead space. Number one, the only person who should be touching other people's stuff in the overhead is the airline attendant. If I had wanted a stranger to go through my stuff, I would have invited TSA to do it during airport screening. Number two, since I put my stuff in the overhead bin, it's probably a really good assumption that I want it to stay there, and not four rows back and to the left when I am sitting to the right. I had a woman once who boarded in zone 6 and started to empty the overhead bin so she would fit one of her three bags. As she started to empty the bin she asked, "Does anyone mind if I move their stuff?" I said, "I do. Don't touch it and no one will get hurt." She just stood there horrified as I calmly put everything back and closed the bin. Early morning flights tend to make me cranky anyway.

Go the bathroom before getting on the plane. Remember when you were a kid, and your Mom always asked if you had gone to the bathroom before the family vacation that entailed driving for an hour or two? The airlines need to hire a mother figure to ask the same question as people board. There is nothing more irritating then a person who pops up every half an hour to go to the bathroom.

Intruding on airline seat space. Amazingly enough, the person in the seat next to you does not double as an armrest, leg rest or pillow. If you didn't pay for two seats, don't feel the need to try and take up two seats. I had a gentleman on a flight back from LGA, who insisted on not only leaning on my seat, but wedging his head in between the two seats so his head wouldn't roll forward. And I was in first class. The fact that the gentlemen was stuck in the 80's (down to the gold chains and the shirt unbuttoned to show all the fluffy chest hair) didn't help the situation any. I ended up sitting with the flight attendants in one of the jump seats.

Loud cell phone conversations. Incredibly, I don't particularly care that the bill you pitched on the floor of the House passed the margin. Really, I don't. Just as I don't care that you need to try and pick up milk and bread on your way home from the airport.

If you can't lift it into the overhead bins, check it. It continuously amazes me that women (and unfortunately, most of the time it is women) come on a plane with the expectation that someone else is going to lift their bag into the overhead for them. One, if it's that heavy, it shouldn't go into the overhead bin anyway. Two, it's a really worn way to try and start a conversation with a man. And it really irritates the rest of us professional women as well. Sometimes I will jump up and put the bag in because I just can't stand the batting eyelashes and pouty mouth.

Don't drink and fly. Trust me, you're not nearly as funny as you think. Just because you think you can handle those five Jack and cokes now, what makes you think you can actually drive a car once the plane has landed? I was traveling with a colleague who tried to get into the rental car to drive us to the hotel, but couldn't figure out where the ignition key went. Enough said.

Space underneath the seat. The space you can utilize underneath the seat is in front of you, not behind you. And no, you cannot utilize both. Even if you ask nicely. If you have that much stuff, check it. Unless you piss an airline attendant off, your stuff should come out on the luggage track at your final destination, especially if you are all ready on the plane and airline personnel are carrying everything down to cargo as you watch.

Kids and flights. Don't get me wrong, I love kids. I especially love well-behaved kids whose parents provide them with interesting diversions during a flight, so they don't pound on my laptop and cause me to lose data that I have been working on for the past hour. It doesn't even really bother me when the little ones cry during take off and landing, the pressure hurts their ears and sometimes the noises scare them. I don't even have kids and I know that, so I don't understand why parents seem so clueless. A little research before taking the kiddies on a flight can go a long way towards not antagonizing an entire plane.

Now, all of this being said, I have run into some incredible people on flights. People who have turned my light off and covered me with a blanket when I fell asleep, to a gentleman who got me a cup of water when the beverage cart came by, thinking I would be thirsty when I woke up. I think if people thought of flying as an exercise in mutual cooperation, the whole experience would probably be on the whole much more positive.

[seoulsucker]

A few more I would add.

It is unacceptable to use your cellphone's mp3 player/speaker function to play music loud enough to hear 4 rows fore and aft.

Grabbing a flight attendant by the arm as they walk by is not an acceptable way to get their attention.

The snack cart is not an all-you-can-eat/stash in your purse buffet.

Taking your shoes off for any reason is out of the question.

And everyone's favorite.........drumroll please........

Wait until the plane has docked with the gate until you climb over the middle and aisle passenger to claw your way to the front of the plane so you can wait impatiently with the rest of the 빨리빨리 문화 a$$clowns.

[ilovebdt]

I have another one...

Think of the person sitting behind you before you push your seat all the wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy back.

ilovebdt

[Satori]

[migooknom]

[Moldy Rutabaga]

My personal pet peeve: If you push your way onto the airplane like the terminal is on fire, you will not get a better seat, and the plane will not leave earlier.

Ken:>

[Junior]

Nice.
Sounds like it was written by judge judy.

Cannot someone interpret it into Korean?

wow! I just found the korean rulebook.

1) Foreign passengers must be seated together in a group right to the back of the plane.

2) if the foreigner attempts Korean, speak back to them in English.

3) Korean passengers may get up and stampede to the doors while before the plane has even touched down.

4) The brace for landing warning actually means "turn on your cellphones and make busy noisy sounding conversations immediately".

[Qinella]

[Natalia]

[Juregen]

[Juregen]

[tiger fancini]

[fadedgirl]

ok gotta say...I'm one of those people who moves her seat back. I have to otherwise, I'm left pressing my face against the freezing cold window, trying to get some sleep.
But that being said...I don't move it ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL the way back. Just enough wall space so I can prop my head on the side and sleep.

and yes I take my shoes off.
and yes. I get up at least once an hour to walk around the plane otherwise my legs will be killing me (and I have tendonitis under my kneecaps...).

[VanIslander]

travellers don't fly

but tourists and expats do

... and a rule book?

the bumps in the road are part of the experience: leave your expections of how things oughta be at home!

(someone hadda say it)

[JongnoGuru]

Rudeness, poor service, annoying passengers, arrogant passengers, a-hole passengers... All that and global warming, too. The problem is there's just too many people flying today. Before any of us were born, there was a time when air travel was like luxury cruise travel: the preserve of the privileged, the wealthy, the few. So in the interest of the planet and my own personal comfort, we're turning back the clock to the 1930s.

No more frequent flyer programmes, no more bucket shops, no more super-saver package-holiday deals. We're taking all you working-class oiks out of the system and returning the airports and foreign holidays to your leaders and betters. No more amusing yourselves by imitating our lives -- Off with you! What's that? You want to visit home for Christmas? Well then hie yourselves down to Busan and try your luck with a tramp steamer. (See ya next spring!)

Personally, I'm looking forward to not having to queue with you lot in the airports anymore. But don't be glum. I'll tell you what youi missed when I return from my holidays! Look, in these days of high-speed internet and satellite TV, you don't really need to experience the sights & sounds of foreign lands firsthand. You should make do with sitting at home and reading of my tales of faraway places and peoples, and leave them for your superiors to enjoy. You'll take your 6 days in Skegness (by train) and be grateful for it. *harrumphs*