And typically those are the first passengers to jump up and hurry to the front of the plane to retrieve their luggage.

I've always thought the expectation was that passengers used the overhead compartment directly above their seat and no other. I certainly wouldn't want my carry-on bags, which contain the most important items for my travel, far away from me in a plane full of strangers.

ida, one would think that!

I am rather claustrophobic on planes, so I am grateful that even when we don’t get upgraded, DH gets me an aisle seat, regardless. Although I am thrilled to have an aisle seat…I have been bonked in the head numerous times by people with HUGE bags as they make their way to the back of the plane! 😂 I mean, it’s not like I have an oversized head or something! I’m a small person.😂

It isn't allowed. And if someone tries to do it in first class when they are not in first class, they are spoken to. I think flight attendants generally try to stop it when they see it but boarding is such a zoo.

Ded, i would totally pay up to board early, for the same reason. I agree with you about people going in and out of overheads. Especially when they don't close them fully. On our last flight, we were about to land when a tote bag fell out of an overhead. DH undid his seatbelt and jumped up to close it. He didn't get yelled at.

nini , one time I was leaning into the aisle trying to retrieve something from under the seat in front of me when the FA came barreling down the aisle with the service cart and bonked me right in the head. it hurt! I should have made a bigger fuss. Maybe they would have given me a free flight!

What i really hate is when i get to my seat and the person next to me is sitting on my seatbelt or has confused mine with his. I totally believe in exchanging cash for comfort and convenience, within reason. My definition of ”within reason” is expanding.

With Covid I haven’t been on a plane in about 18 months. Over the 30+ years we have traveled by air the experience has beome more and more unpleasant. Hearing about how it’s going since it started picking up again we decided to drive from MN to NC for a wedding in August. Our drive from MN to TX in March was quite pleasant. I just couldn’t bring myself to sign up for long lines, hours of mask wearing and crowds of obnoxious people not to mention the issues related to the shortage of workers and rental cars.

People board by rows, starting in the front with first class.. If you're in the back, all that will be left will be overhead space in the rear.

Jojoco, not really anymore IME. They board by groups. First class is a group. But so are various levels of freq flyers and you can also pay more to board earlier, putting you in a different group, but not in the first group(s) sometime. Moreover, sometimes I see them board from the back and sometimes from the front.

Boarding has gotten very complex and bizarre.

I thought groups went by rows numbers, front to back, but of course there are calls for any people with small children, etc, which could be seated anywhere.

Not exactly. You can be in a different group than your row number would otherwise indicate for a whole host of reasons (including paying just to be in another group). The airlines have become proficient at pricing every tiny advantage/preference!

I have recently read that the fastest acceptable way to load a plane is exactly how it is being done: passengers needing assistance first followed by groups of passengers.

The fastest way, which is not done because most passengers dislike it, is passengers needing assistance first followed by window seat passengers in groups working front to back; then middle seat passengers in groups front to back; then aisle seat passengers in the same groupings.

The most logical way to me (working back to front) is actually the slowest.

Yes, I am often mystified by whatever logic governs boarding by groups.

As for people getting into their bags in the overhead cabins, I had a nightmarish experience once in my 20s. Now I laugh about it, but it was so not funny then.

I was on a flight for an interview. Packed light, as I was returning the next day, wearing what I was going to wear for the official part of the interview.

I was seated next to a couple toting an infant, who was hungry or fussy after takeoff. The husband stood up to get a bag from the overhead compartment, and pulled down a bag. A can of dry baby formula powder snapped open in the process and fell squarely on my head.

The couple were so apologietic, the FA offered towlettes, etc. I tried my best to clean up in the 20 cubic feet of the airplane toilet, but I knew it was useless.

Even without something like this happening on the way to an interview, I was young, easily flustered, not generally poised or all together. After a rain of sticky, fatty formula, I just fell apart inside. On the outside, I don’t really know how I appeared to others. All I know is that I was too timid to get upset, too unfamiliar with parenting and children to empathize with the young couple, too immature to pull myself together to explain my situation to my potential future employer. Too everything to not have a silent, secret meltdown.

It was a disaster of a trip. I didn’t offer an explanation to the person who picked me up to take me to the interview location, acted as if it was just normal for someone to have icky hair and clothes.

I laugh about it now and it’s a funny story, but I still shudder when I actually recall how I felt then.

Oh, nuts, how awful for you!

I havent traveled by air in almost 2 years due to Covid, but I shudder to think of the ill-mannered and behaved people one might encounter these days on a flight. I always hope for a flight without screaming kids, inconsiderate passengers, or other incidents as you all have described. People trying to cram bags into the overhead is a comedy show at times. Even before TSA rules, it was a mess when bag sizes were instituted. And Mtn is correct, each airline has their own heirarchy for boarding but it is similar, usually starting with first class, then those needing special assistance, then the frequent fliers, then everybody else by rows or whatever.

We now generally try to travel in first (don't judge) and find we avoid a lot of stress by doing so. I traveled a lot for business, so racked up a lot of miles from travel. Only had one experience on the way to Hawaii with a drunk passenger and it was handled quickly by the FAs and one of the pilots. There have been a few medical emergencies experienced during flights in the past but those were handled professionally as well.

Having just recently flown from Albuquerque to Dallas to Columbia, SC and back, i can totally agree with these frustrations! The storage bulkhead above one’s seat should be for those passengers!

My next big frustration happened (once again!) on our return trip. Our fight leaving Columbia was 45-some minutes late, causing a number of us to possibly miss our connecting flights. Just before we landed in Dallas, the pilot came on and ask everyone who was not going to have to rush to catch a connecting flight to stay seated and let us quickly depart first. Haha, what a joke! DH and I had to literally run from Terminal A to Terminal C to make our flight!

Complaint #3: parents who allow their kids to play video games in flight with the sound cranked up. Ugh!

With the American Airlines credit card, I get priority boarding before the rest of the main cabin, group 5. It is worth the fee to us since we are in a hub city. But if I can upgrade to first or main extra I will do it.

Although on my last flights before the shutdown, it seemed there were an awful lot of people in group 5 with the credit card.

Lynn, they will often make that announcement here since there are so many connections.

I was the first person to board in my section in the rear of the plane due to being a credit card holder (group 5, but sometimes there’s hardly anyone in groups 1-4). There was already a bag in the overhead above my aisle seat. I asked the FA if someone forgot their bag and she said that’s my bag, just put yours in any open overhead space. So I did, but I felt like I took someone else’s spot. And that’s why they know people will pay to get an earlier boarding group.

On Easy Jet flights around Europe, they boarded from the back and front doors at the same time. Makes it very fast and efficient, since you’re directed to the correct entrance based on aisle number. They were also very strict about everything carried on (purses, luggage, whatever) so there isn’t as much fussing with finding space and getting seated.

ETA: it’s a nice idea to ask others to stay seated but impractical. How do you know how many other people have a connection? Or feel sick and need to get off the plane? What if you’re in the window seat, since the middle and aisle have to get up to let you out shouldn’t they just keep moving out of the way? I was on a flight and they asked people to let the military starting their leave off first and everyone was willing but good heavens what a rigamarole getting them out from all over the plane. It seemed like it added time to the process.

DF, works for UAL, said it is advantageous for passengers to put carry-on bags in "first available overhead bin," (vs. one by your seat) so FA can quickly see when all the space is filled, and announce to those still boarding they need to gate check bags.

My pet peeve is guys who sit next to you on the plane and think that because you are petite that they get to spill over into your space. It happens to me all the time. Stop touching me. So gross.

Usually, DH, who is 6'4", will switch seats with me. Then, for some reason the guy who is so important he can't be contained in his seat area will suddenly recognize personal space boundaries.

It's so infuriating. Yes, I have gray hair and weigh 125 pounds but I'm not a pushover.

On one of DHs last business trips, prior to quitting the corporate world and buying his own business, he was seated next to a person who needed two seats but only purchased one. Needless to say the man took up about half of DHs seat as well as his own. DH said something to him about not encroaching on his seat. The guy kind of went nuts and was still harassing DH at luggage claim hours later. After thirty years of business travel DH called it quits.

I'm sorry, but allowing military special boarding or disembark privileges is something that annoys me. That may not be a popular opinion, but we’re talking pet peeves here, and I think it's stupid and pushes an agenda that we don't all buy into.

I don't disagree Ida, and what's more I think it's shameful pandering. I had a secretary who worked for me who was ex-military. He said he could never support a family with a career in the military today. It's like "respecting" teachers with coffee mugs once a year.

Yeah, this country is big on maintaining a certain narrative that seeks to define honor, respect, patriotism, and heroism. The assumption is that we all view it the same way, and we most certainly do not. I get what you're saying too, Mtn, and agree. I was a military spouse and employee.

My pet peeve are passengers who don’t realize that the main job of a Flight Attendent is the safety of same passengers.

Ever been on a flight that had to be evacuated?

Signed, an old Stewardess who only hit one person hard with a dinner cart that got away. And very thankful not to be working on planes today.

Some of the "military first" is to make scared (after 9/11) passengers feel safe and make the "military announcement" and them visible to potential "bad guys."

^^ yup!

Why? They aren't armed.

It’s the human psyche and the appearance of strength.

Really?I am skeptical that that is the reason. For one, it never occurred to me that their presence could impact my safety, and I've never heard anyone say that. I am curious why you guys think so?

When I was in college in Switzerland, i would sometimes be on the train traveling at the same time Swiss guys were heading to their compulsory military training, traveling with their weapons. i didnt feel particularly safe. Although, that was on trains, about 1980, in Switzerland. But still, no, their presence was not particularly comforting.

Remember that after 9/11 airlines were struggling to win back the confidence of passengers. Add in the rise in patriotism after the attacks, giving military special recognition was an excellent business move by the airlines. For many hesitant flyers having a person in uniform nearby gives a sense of security.

I still know people who won’t fly because of the attacks.

I don't know, I think that may be apocryphal. The only thing I can find about why they started doing it is a story in Quora that said it was a PR move after a 2011 debacle with luggage fees charged servicemen. I don't know if their account is accurate, but the luggage fee story at least is very well documented. And the timing makes more sense, because, I used to fly more than once a week on business and I really don't recall this protocol back when I was a frequent business flyer. It wasn't something that started until much much later than 9.11.01.

Anyway, I agree with Oly and will pay up to go in first. Jetblue is ok, too. But most airlines are barely civil to the people behind the curtain. It's an outrage.

Now, I need a whole 'nother thread on this: When I was in college in Switzerland

Bpath, I am so retroactively jealous! do tell more!!

Haven't read everything above, but when I've traveled with my Mom (98), It's beyond disturbing to see people jump up and move into the aisle to deboard, not waiting their turn.

Ok I keep getting sidetracked (sorry to the OP). Arapaho, that's wonderful that yous mom flies at 98!

Deegw, it's not because you are petite, LOL!

I spent one flight on a full plane next to guy who kept pressing his leg against mine - very intentional. I asked the FA if I could change seats with some male, but that went nowhere.

Its been decades ago, but when I flew on KLM to the Netherlands with mostly Dutch passengers, I was impressed with how orderly and polite the passengers were as they disembarked. This was the first plane trip I had been on where I saw the passengers get up to disembark row by row, front to back, all on their own. I have seen it on domestic flights more recently, though.

My pet peeve on flights? Urine on the restroom floors. Geez, if you can't aim, wear a condom catheter! My next trip I am taking a pair of cheap slip on shoes just for the flight, and throwing them out after.

The most horrible experience I ever had flying was on a redeye to Heathrow. I traveled with family, but our seats were in different rows and I found myself at the back of the plane with a window seat, next to a mother and young adult daughter duo. At first I thought, oh how nice, their traveling dynamic is much like my own, but then they proceeded to drink heavily and pop pills. The flight attendant kept the red wine flowing to them, and about a couple of hours into the 9 hour flight, they became intolerable. Loudly ranting, spewing profanities and racist comments, but somehow they kept getting served alcohol. I finally had enough and got up and informed a flight attendant. I told her I needed to be moved, and she said all she could do was stop serving them wine, but had no other seat on the plane for me. Once my seat mates put two and two together, they began making comments to ME. Well, not directly to me, but the younger kept repeating over and over, "anal wh*ore!" They refused to budge when I needed out to use the lavatory, so I just crawled over them, not caring where my elbows and knees ended up in the process. It was the flight from hell.

Afterward I filed a complaint with United, as I felt the airline was complicit in continuing to serve obviously inebriated passengers. That got me a big fat bunch of absolutely nothing.

I'm able to overlook lesser offenses after that experience. Sometimes passengers do things that are annoying but they don't mean to. The two women I was seated next to were in a "class" of their own, and by "class" I mean they possessed none.

Oh, mtn, it’s not worth a whole thread, though it was fun. instead of doing my university’s standard study=-abroad programs, I saw a flyer about the American College in Switzerland. The pictures were, of course, eye candy! I arranged with my school to be able to transfer there and back. The college was in a ski town in the French-speaking area, all classes were in English, most of the professors were American, the student body was universal and eclectic.

There were Americans who had never lived in the US, non-Americans who were more American than their own nationality, having grown up in the US or going to American schools abroad, and ”normal” nationals from many countries. Students who were ethnically one thing but could not live in their home countries. There were a Palestinian and an Israeli living next door to one another. A good number were from the middle East, some royalty etc.

Most students were getting an AA and improving their English before transferring to US colleges for their BAs. And many of us were like me, doing a year abroad.

The school eventually was bought by Schiller Universities, but I don’t think it exists anymore.

The location was idyllic. Since the main campus occupied an old TB hospital (lots of those in the area), most of the dorm rooms were on the south side overlooking the valley and had balconies! Certainly not posh, but who cares about posh when you have heaven in your view! The student lounge was the former morgue.

Switzerland felt very safe because the government was so intrusive. If you sent a package, it had to be tied with string and not taped. They would open it. If the package contained a letter, you had to pay additional postage for the letter. They weighed your aerograms to be sure you hadn’t slipped in a slim extra sheet of writing. One evening we were burning tea leaves for a joke, and the RA came roaring in telling us that if the police went by and smelled it, they’d arrest us on the spot for pot (it wasn’t pot, it really was tea).

Great year.

Sounds wonderful Bpath!

I don't know where your DD is going to boarding school, but I'm sure she's meeting plenty of fascinating people, too!

Need to clarify, at 98 she has not traveled but the mind is still willing!

Bpath, I had no idea the Swiss were so strict. I did a lot of traveling in my youth before 9/11, and now shudder at what I go away with. I was held back and questioned by immigration a few times, and my attitude back then would probably land me in jail today. I was always a very polite and well-behaved flier, though.

(Not to derail further, but I still can't wrap my mind around the fact that this year marks 20 years since 9/11.)

Feathers, if we had radios we also had to register them, but that was for taxing purposes! the same was true in Denmark for radio and tv, because they are state-supported. The Swiss, though, they take the cake. A cousin lives there now. He has Danish and British citizenship. When he was ready to become a permanent resident of his village, one of his neighbors spoke against him, as my cousin had once complained about the church bells. He told us that when someone wants to build, they have to put up vertical rods showing the corners of the proposed structure. If someone thinks it will block their view, they can protest. They might not win, but they can speak!

On the other hand, all this orderliness makes Switzerland a great place to visit. and the trains run on time.

I have been flying a bit recently and people are probably worse on planes now than they were pre-pandemic. I feel a lot of sympathy for flight attendants who have to deal with some really awful people.

Interestingly, due to COVID several of the airlines have been boarding from the rear of the plane first, by groups of seats. Of course families with kids and people needing extra time first, then of course first class. But then once to the main cabin, they've been boarding from the back.

Regarding luggage, I also hate how people will put both their carryon and their "personal item" that's supposed to go under the seat into the carryon compartment so they don't have to give up their leg space. If you want to fly like that, you should only take the carryon and check everything else. I've been forced to check my carryon when there isn't enough room on a flight.

I completely second @deegw frustration over men that think it's ok to push into my seat space and touch me. My husband is tall so he often takes the aisle while I take the middle. On a long 6 hour flight I had a man who continually pushed his leg into my space. I am extremely uncomfortable with strangers touching me and I was trying to sleep as it was an overnight flight. Every time he'd push into me, I'd jerk my leg away. As I was getting off the plane I overheard him complaining to someone about how this awful woman next to him was jumping and twitching the whole flight. I completely understand that sometimes people will bump into eachother in tight quarters, but men spreading their legs into my space and pressing against me is not ok.

When I fly solo, it's usually on Southwest to visit my mother. I always opt for a window seat. The flight isn't long, but I can at least curl up and away from someone encroaching my space. I need wheelchair assistance now, so am in one of the first groups to board. DH & I haven't flown anywhere since January of 2020 when we went on a Viking Caribbean cruise. We had to connect through Philly from Boston to get to San Juan. If it hadn't been for the wheelchair assist, I don't think we would have made the connection. The cruise line got an F from us - didn't book us assigned seats (American). We had to pay to get seat assignments to sit together and had to pay for our checked bags. That peeved us, for a $10,000 cruise...

seagrass

I avoid flying with airlines charging you to check a bag if I can. Mostly I only have 1 carry on except on longer trips where I do check my bag. All it seems to do is have more people have 2 large carry on's and then they end up pissy that they have to gate check their luggage, which also takes a lot of extra time in getting the plane loaded and going.

I will also pay to have pre-assigned seats or to board up if I can. My daughter is now hitting the age where they won't seat us together, but she is nowhere near the point where she wants to sit away from her family and would freak out if she had to. I'm also becoming more worried about strangers in her space as she looks a little older than she is as well. We are also tall so will pay for more leg room. Just annoyed with all the changes of having to pay all the extra's, but often when we used to fly it was not planned far ahead so getting in a different cabin than economy isn't always an option. If work didn't cover it I would pay out of my own pocket.

If you are far ahead in the planning process I find business or first class to be just slightly higher than the other options after you pay for all the upgrades. That said I'm also willing to rough it at times to teach my daughter some planning/savings. She won tickets to be in the audience for a Disney show that was filmed in LA (we live in TX) and only got to know about it 3 or 4 days ahead. So I said we could go and gave her a low budget. She found flights and a hotel below the budget and she said we can only bring a back-pack each with everything or we are over the budget. So we did it. It probably was our most nightmarish flight together, but only because of the circumstances with a storm delaying us into taking off 4 hrs late which meant we were so tired we slept on the plane, except the seats didn't recline at all - don't think any of them did, so our necks really hurt for the next 24 hrs, and we had to hear Baby shark playing over and over at the airport as well as on the plane by a toddler who did not want to sleep. 8hrs of baby shark was a little much. However it was a budget airline and I really appreciated their efficiency over most of the big ones I've flown with. Once we were asked to board, all were on in no time and ready for take-off. Been a long time since I've seen that efficiency. Also had very clear rules about the size of the carry-on and it was enforced and nobody got a bye. Oh I should say it wasn't JetBlue or Southwest which are also fairly good at being efficient, but this was faster than either of those, and much lower budget.