Airline Etiquette – How to board an airplane
Being on an airplane often has many pros and cons. Depending how you look at it, for entertainment or agitation, boarding planes never ceases to amaze me. Although boarding a plane is not difficult there are a few things you can do to speed up the process and ensure you are not the passenger everyone is glaring at.
1. Preparation – As with almost everything, a little preparation can save you a lot of time, frustration and money when you are going to carry your luggage on to an airplane. There are many advantages to carrying your luggage on which I will not go into for the time being. You are only allowed 2 carry-on bags, a suitcase and a “personal” item. First, the suitcase begs the infamous question of “how big can my carry-on be?” This is answered on most airline websites, but trust me, you’ll want to grab a roller bag that is about 22″ in length. The other dimensions are generally fine. I recommend a bag like this. If you stick with a 22″ roller bag you will have no problem fitting your bag into an overhead bin. Secondly, your “personal” item will most likely be a briefcase, small duffle or purse. Just ensure that you don’t have a duffle the size of your suitecase and you’ll be good to go – remember this is going to go under the seat in front of you.
**Your goal: Ensure your carry-on will fit easily in an overhead compartment and that your “personal” item will fit underneath the seat in front of you.
2. Find your seat - This should not be difficult, but it always seems to baffle folks. First, look at the seat on your ticket in the format <Row Number><Seat Letter> (ie: 16B). The rows of seats are in numerical order starting with 1 in the front of the plane and with letters ascending from your right to left across the seats. Seat ‘A’ will 99% of the time be the window seat on your right. Use the placards posted just below the overhead compartments to guide you.
** Your goal: Move down the aisle to your seat as quickly as possible.
3. Store 1 bag – You will hear the flight attendants remind you of this, but you are only “suppose to” put one bag in the overhead compartment. This actually does help a lot and can cause others to check their bags when others are putting multiple bags, coats and packages in the overhead bins. Be respectful and stick to one bag in the overhead compartment. Once you have found your seat, simply place your “personal” item in your seat and place your suitcase in the overhead compartment. Putting down your “personal” item first makes it much easier to store your suitcase. If you have trouble finding a spot for your bag, keep looking or ask a flight attendant for help – NEVER move another persons bag. After you have done so, place your “personal” item under the seat in front of you and take a seat!
**Your goal: Store your bag as quickly as possible and get into your seat.
4. Don’t get too comfortable – Now that you are sitting, its time to get out your book, ipod, newspaper, soda and laptop – right? No. Unless you are in a window seat or your aisle of seats is full you should wait for the other passengers to board. Getting out all of your entertainment now will only cause delays when you have to get up for another passenger to get into their seat. Waiting can speed up the process and save you a lot of frustration as well.
None of these tips are earth-shattering as sitting in a seat should never be a difficult task. However, as I started off saying it never ceases to amaze me when I see the types of luggage people try to bring on board, how many items passengers put into the overhead compartment, the amount of items passengers get out before everyone is seated, how slow people are to store their bags, the difficulty some have with finding their seats and last, but not least, the arguments that occasionally break out due to passengers moving other passengers bags.
With that, sit back, relax and enjoy your flight.
