I have seen some very kind things on airplanes. People giving up their seats so couples can sit together, passengers helping others put their bags in the overhead bin, smiles, and all around good cheer. I have also seen less nice things, and unfortunately coming home from Cancun there were a lot of non-nice actions to witness. Wonder why! Were people mad about coming home from vacation? Or hungover from the night before? Who knows. But something must have been going on, because I have never before seen this level of rudeness on one flight.
First, there were several pre-board passengers. That is a normal enough occurrence—a few elderly people, a guy in a wheelchair and his family, etc. Did not seem, to me, like anything out of the ordinary. But the people waiting to board were very impatient, making comments under their breath (or out loud) such as, “Does it really take that long to board?” Um, yes, for some people, it does take that long to board, and I’m pretty sure that is exactly why airlines have preboarding! But whatever.
When they called First Class to board (Home Warrior and I were lucky enough to get upgraded), a lot of people tried to board that were not in First. Not so surprising, again, as that happens everywhere. But I was very surprised at how the passengers in First handled it, although maybe I shouldn’t have been after the comments I heard during preboarding. They were angry—like noticeably angry. Multiple people made rude comments, not even trying to keep their voices down, about people in front of them. I get it—you want to get on the plane and get settled. But it felt like these people were seriously overreacting.
Then, while actually boarding, Home Warrior and I were behind a couple on the jetbridge. We were all waiting pretty patiently, until another passenger walked past us and the other couple, pushed in front of the family in front of them (who were picking up their bags to board), and got on the plane. At this point, Home Warrior and I were both wondering what the heck was going on. Yeah, the guy had no bags, and everyone else did, but the whole idea of waiting in line is that you wait for the people in front of you!!
Okay. So we’re finally on the plane, about to get to our seats, wondering what will happen next. The woman standing in front of us, who is sitting in the bulkhead, is looking for a place to stow her backpack. She sees a spot in front of another bag, and puts her bag up. The door to the overhead bin won’t close though, so she starts shoving her bag in as hard as she can. Repeatedly. Which wouldn’t be a big deal, except that she was crushing some other person’s bag in the process. The owner of that bag (also sitting in the bulkhead) jumps up and says, “Excuse me! Please don’t do that, there is glass in there!” The woman rolls her eyes, says, “Whatever,” and moves her bag to the next bin.
At this point I swear my eyes were about to pop out of my head. Luckily they didn’t, because as I was trying to put my own bag in the overhead bin, the person behind me shoved past so hard that I fell over. I caught myself on the back of my seat, and so didn’t hurt myself, but still. Come on, people! There’s just no call for that.
You would think that people returning from vacation would be relaxed and mellow, but not this time. Rude, rude, rude.
Readers, have you been on a flight where it seems like everyone got up on the wrong side of the bed?
Cancun is to Mexico what amateur pornography is to Casablanca. It’s a man-made tourist pit that caters to those looking to fly to “mexico” for the absolutely lowest cost. This means you’re probably riding with party-minded 20-somethings and super uptight middle-aged people taking their very precious 2 weeks of vacation that they maybe get every few years. Seems like a shitty cocktail party to me, if you know what I mean. Remind you of anywhere else?
Cancun is the Vegas of Mexico.
Americans right?
You must have flown US Airways
Not on a flight, but in Cancun on a very crowded dancefloor some girl threw her drink on me because apparently while dancing near her I was spilling some of my beer and a little splashed on her toe accidentally. Cancun can have some very rude people, but with Chichen Itza, Tulum and it’s crazy nice beaches I would say it’s still worth it! =)
Lets just say you don’t have the most “professional” flyers going to destinations like CUN. Most are going on once in a life time trips to CUN and have no better point of reference. I would have horse collared the guy cutting in front on everyone! 🙂
What Ford said.
What restaurant/bar do you think the passenger stole the glass from? Carlos y Charlie’s? Sorry, couldn’t resist.
Hey, I love both Cancun and Vegas. Never had a problem with passengers flying to / from either although the mood tends to be more muted on the return from both!
I know exactly what you mean and I totally hate when people act like that. If it’s so important to them to get onto the plane that quickly they probably should just get a private jet…
To balance out the Universe, I’m going to remember this post in the future, and will be extra-nice to fellow travellers.
Wow! That’s a lot of rude people on one flight. I’m not real happy when I come back from Cancun either, but I at least don’t get rude like that.
This is coming a bit long after the original post, but it reminded me of a miserable flight from Ireland to New York a few years ago. I was close to the back of the plane, where dozens and dozens of school children were seated. These were not high school students – some bunch of lunatics thought it would be reasonable to take a herd of what looked like 10- or 11-year-olds from somewhere in Latin America(where they were from) to Ireland. The teachers/chaperones were sitting several rows ahead of their students and provided no supervision that I could see. The kids were not overly wild for their age, but very loud and disruptive for the duration of the flight. Further, they were not isolated from other passengers. They were seated in a bunch together, but other passengers (including me) were sandwiched between children – over whom we had no authority to correct or shush – and the windows. When we landed, the other passengers who had suffered through hours of noise and obnoxious behavior erupted into applause and then began shouting at the kids’ chaperones. As we were exiting, a man passed the trip leader and made a blatantly racist comment. I don’t remember his exact words but I remember being shocked at how over the line it was. The poor victim was in the wrong for not keeping the kids in check, but that little cherry on top left an even worse taste in my mouth after the flight.