Airplane Travel Etiquette Tips: Rules For A Happy Journey!

A trip begins right from the moment you reach the airport. A pleasant flight contributes a lot to the whole travel experience. Nobody likes to start their dream vacation with an argument or fight with other attendees. So, to ensure a pleasant beginning to your journey, you must follow some simple flying rules. From boarding the plane to settling on your seat to leaving the airport, there is a list of rules that you must keep in mind for an unforgettable flying experience. Learning about the few tips will make the journey enjoyable not just for you but for all. 

If you want your journey to be as fun as the destination, then you must follow the airplane travel etiquette rules. You are a responsible traveler but don’t know the rules? We’ve rounded up the travel etiquette tips that will assist you in flying like an ethical traveler. 

1. Respect The Space Of Your Fellow Passengers

Nobody likes the passengers who use all the space of their own as well as of others. When you get settled on your seat, you must keep yourself in your own space. To put your luggage try to use the close confines provided by the aircraft rather than using all the three-seat space. Not just to keep the luggage, you must respect the others' space in terms of armrest usage. Also, you should keep your legs within your reach rather than spreading them everywhere. Spreading yourself to others' frames is not a good idea while traveling. Limit yourself and enjoy your journey within your space.

2. Stay Ready For The Security Screening

It’s never a good idea to hold the screening line and search for the required documents. As the travel begins even before you board the plane, you must be prepared for your turn of screening. At the time of security checking, you must know the airplane travel etiquette tips for your own and other’s convenience. You should always be prepared with your documents and other requirements. Your pockets should be emptied, the laptop should be in a separate bag, and more. While in a queue, get ready with all the requirements before your turn so as to make the whole process quicker. 

3. Don’t Block The Aisle

Once you board the plane, you must do your work quickly to empty the aisle and make the space for others. As you step in the flight and have the greetings from the flight staff, you must leave for your seat. Also, be sure that you have all the essentials ready with you so that you can keep your bags in the overhead cabins and allow the fellow passengers to keep their stuff. It's quite frustrating for the others to keep waiting because of one passenger. So, don’t be an irritating passenger and leave a good impact on others by following this simple tip. 

4. Be Flexible For Swapping The Seats With Family

Nothing takes to be a decent person and help others. At times due to the blocking of the seats by airlines, it becomes impossible for the families to get the seats together. While traveling solo, it's good to be a little flexible and swap your seat with the passengers who are flying with the kids and senior citizens. Being considerate and swapping the seats if possible might be a great help for others. However, make sure you never swap the seat while the plane is taking off. Postpone the swap until the flight reaches the altitude and it gets convenient to sign off your seatbelt. 

5. Keep Your Phone On Silent Mode

What can be more frustrating than listening to ringing phones while you are enjoying your silent sleep? Since people prefer to survive long hours of the journey sleeping all the way, the ringing phone might disturb the sleep and make the fellow passenger aggressive. This is the reason, it is always recommended to keep the phones on silent mode while you are in the sky. Along with that, make sure you keep your conversations short so that it won’t bother others. If you don’t want to be the hated passenger on the flight, you must always keep your phone on silent.

6. Be Cautious While Reclining Your Seat

Comfort is always the top priority of the passenger while flying through the airplanes. Hampering of comfort might result in a bad experience. For precisely this reason, you should always be very cautious while reclining your seat. Your reclining might result in a shrinking of space that can cause inconvenience to the passenger sitting behind your seat. The comfort of one passenger might be a pet peeve for others. So, always and always follow this airplane travel etiquette rule and sit upright on your seat. While it might be a little uncomfortable for you to not recline your seat, it will be easy for all the fellow passengers.  

7. Don’t Bring Smelly Food With You

As flights are known for serving bland food, people prefer to carry their own meal to enjoy in the sky. If you too are carrying your food, you must be careful that you do not carry smelly food with you. Food items with a strong smell like garlic prepared meals, kimchi, stinky cheese, etc. should be avoided on airplanes. As the space is limited, even a little smell might spread in the whole aircraft. There is no space in the planes for the pungent smelly food. Nothing can be worse than a foul odor. Be a good traveler who carries good food. Do this and let the travelers thank you. 

8. Put On Your Headphones While Listening to Music

Among all the travel etiquette tips, this is the most obvious one. While enjoying the flying, no one really wants to hear your music choices. It’s always great to keep your music to yourself by using headphones. Even if you have a good taste in music, no one else likes this kind of entertainment. Travelers love to spend quality time with themselves, not by listening to others. If all the passengers on the board play the music on loudspeakers, it will be chaos. So, you use your headphones. Not just while listening to music, you must put your headphones on even when you are playing games. 

9. Give Your Armrest To The Middle Seat Traveler

The most common reason behind the passengers' fight in airplanes is the armrest. It is always a dilemma that the armrest belongs to whom? If you too are struggling with the answer, then know that the middle traveler is always the most uncomfortable. This is why it's no less an etiquette to offer the armrest to the middle passenger. Doing so will offer a privilege to the passenger who is already stuck between the two passengers. Being on the corner sides, you have one armrest of your own to enjoy a comfortable journey. Follow this rule and avoid getting into a wage war with a fellow passenger. 

10. Be Patient At Baggage Carousel

Airplane travel manners do not come to an end with the landing of the flight. It continues until you are out of the airport. Till then you should always behave like a decent passenger and follow all the travel etiquette tips. One such equally important tip that you must keep in mind is to show patience at the baggage carousel. Once you come down from the flight and are waiting to claim your baggage, you must be really patient. Even though you are tired by then, you should always be in line and stand at a distance from the carousel. Rather than bumping into someone, be relaxed, and wait for your turn to take the baggage. 

No matter what price you have paid for the ticket, it is always important to treat other passengers as humans and come out as a good traveler. With these aforementioned airplane travel etiquette tips, you can enjoy smooth and fun flying. Adding to the above list, an additional tip that is beyond everything is to be “Polite”. No matter if you are standing in a queue or getting on the plane or coming out, you must be polite and patient with the other passengers. Learn these tips and enjoy a great start to your vacation. Happy flying!