Bloggers Flying Tell All Stories

We’ve all been there . . . you know when your booking your flight and wonder who you’ll end up sitting next to. Is it going to be a talker, someone who keeps to themselves. We’ve all had that one flight with that one seatmate, who makes the flight miserable. Maybe they don’t listen to the rules, or maybe they argue with the flight attendant, or maybe they do something to make it miserable to sit by them.

I can’t even remember where I was going on this flight, but I was flying somewhere with my mom. Our flight had taken off, I was comfortably sitting in my seat, reading a book. I went to put my arm on my armrest (thank god I glanced over in the process). My armrest was completely taken up my the bare foot of the girl sitting behind me. Her bare feet where stuck between my mom and I’s seats, resting on our armrest!!!! I was horrified and disgusted that someone would ever do that! I turned around and stared at her until she removed her feet. Luckily, I have never experienced this since!

Your seatmate can make or break the flight

Another encountered occurred last summer when I was flying from Fort Myers to Chicago, with a layover in Atlanta. I was sitting at the gate with open seats next all around me. I saw this older guy walking towards me. I kept thinking I really hope he isn’t going to sit right next to me, with all these open seats surrounding us. He did. His appearance was really sloppy and there was a slight odor surrounding him. I boarded the plane and was comfortably seated and pulled out my homework. Then I see him walking down the aisle. “Please Please don’t sit next to me” kept going through my head. Unfortunely that was not to be . . . he sat down next to me, and took up the armrest and leaned towards me for a majority of the flight. He began eating a sandwich that he had brought with him. No problem . . . until he started dropping the lettuce, tomato, and dressing all over himself and the seat. He then proceed to wipe the dressing up with his finger, and licking his finger. He would pick the rest of his droppings up from his lap and seat, and proceed to eat them.

As we were taxing to the gate he read the title of textbook very loudly (I was taking a class on serial killers for my criminology degree). He begins asking me a lot of questions . . . where do I live (I told him Tampa), he wanted to know why I was flying from Fort Myers. Where was I going? Everyone kept staring at me with this look of pity while we were waiting to deplane. I was creeped out by this guy, so when it came time to deplane, he exited the row, and I stayed and let a couple rows pass. Phew I shouldn’t see him again. Nope, he was waiting for me right outside the plane for me, and talked to me the whole way into the airport. I  didn’t respond to him, went straight to the monitor to find my gate. He bent down messing with his bag, I immediately walked away (very quickly), and ducked into the bathroom for about 10 minutes. I never saw him again.

Seven bloggers share their stories of experiences they have had while flying. Some will make you laugh, some will make you cringe, and some may just make you angry.

  Katie from Kitty to City

On a flight from Denver, CO to Orange Country, CA I was sitting next to a 55 year old Barbie. I’m pretty sure she was all plastic (to each their own). Right after takeoff she pulled out her Louis Vuitton; dug around for her make-up bag, slathered on some bubble gum pink lipstick, and proceeded to check herself out in her compact mirror. Then to my horror she pulled out a pair of tweezers. Now what could she possibly do with tweezers while in flight? Pluck her eyebrows? No…they were already perfectly shaped. Do you know what she did? She decided to pluck her chin hair. After each pluck she blew on the tweezers as if she was blowing the seeds from a dandelion. She’d watch the hair in awe as it floated away….on to me! Eww.

  Michaela from This FP Planet

There’s bad etiquette and then there’s just total disregard for the rules! I recently had the misfortune to be on the same flight as one ignorant soul who believed all warning notifications were beneath him. Cue this bedraggled flyer attempting to board our refuelling aircraft whilst puffing on a lit cigarette, totally disregarding all of the pretty darn obvious ‘NO SMOKING’ signs. I guess no-one ever mentioned to him just how flammable aircraft fuel is? Not to mention all the cigarette smoke currently drifting down the aisle. Not ideal! Our flight attendant did manage to pounce on his before the smoke had filled up everyone’s lungs, but come on guys! Let’s all remember to pack the common sense next time we go abroad. 

   Evan from Pretty, Wild World

People who talk loud on planes need a reminder. You never know where someone is coming from, how long they’ve been traveling for, or what time zone someone is adjusting to. The people who talk loud enough that you can hear their entire conversation, know where they live, and what the latest gossip is about their friends, need to learn what whispering really means. But if you give them an evil glare and still continue? Then they’re just plain rude or completely oblivious to their volume.