Unwritten Rules of Air Travel

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From CNBC: The most off-putting behaviors

According to the report, the most aggravating in-flight behavior is the invasion of personal space — be it encroaching on an armrest, leg room area or crossing the invisible boundary that separates passenger seats. Some 77%!o(MISSING)f people in the survey said they were "bothered" by it, with 51%!s(MISSING)aying they were "very bothered." (I hate the seat hog)

In second place are unhygienic behaviors, such as clipping fingernails or taking off shoes, according to the survey of more than 2,200 Americans. However, not everyone objects to removing shoes on flights, with less than half of people in Asia (49%!)(MISSING) and just over a third of those in the United Arab Emirates (38%!)(MISSING) deeming the practice unacceptable in a YouGov survey published in April. (A guy clipped his toenails on the plane and the flight attendant would not stop him!!)

Passengers who are visibly sick rank third on the list, as Covid-19 and other contagious illnesses can affect passengers long after a flight ends. (It happens often, even on busses and trains)

Rounding out the top five irritating behaviors is listening to devices without headphones, followed by visible intoxication. (With ear buds, some people play the music so loud, I can hear it!)

Exiting has several other unspoken rules, including refraining from edging your way into the aisle too early and retrieving your bag prematurely ("yanking your bag out of the overhead bin while people are still waiting in the aisle is a surefire way to make yourself a menace"), according to CheapAir.com.

Passengers wearing backpacks can wear them on frontward when getting on and off the plane to prevent accidentally hitting seated people in the face — an occurrence so common that some flyers say it's reason enough to book a window seat.
A few other things I have seen: breast feeding a child about 7 or 8 years old, clipping toenails, applying nail polish, eating smelly food, laying in the aisle to do yoga, standing on the seat, noisy video games, and wearing huge hats.People speaking loudly to each other is irritating. It is even more irritating when I am trying to sleep. Talking loudly on the phone is equally irritating. I also hate people grabbing my seat back. Despite recent news about bad behavior on planes, I have not seen much lately. My experience is that travelers in Europe are more difficult than American travelers. Foreigners always get up before the plane reaches the gate. One Croatian woman shoved her way to the front of the plane. It was hilarious when we saw her in our lines at both Immigration AND at baggage claim. Certainly, sitting in the front of the plane is a totally different experience. Business and First Class seem to attract a different clientele.

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