Am I alone in not being able to remain pleasant in an airport?

[aperolspritzbasicbitch]

Nothing raises my cortisol quite like being in an airport.
i hate it.
I become snappy, everything annoys me and the general public can do no right.
I was born to fly private, but unfortunately I am without the funds.

My mood is only really improved if I have hand luggage only, because at least then I don’t have to deal with people crowding around the luggage belt, making it impossible for the rest of us to see our bags. And don’t get me started on those who allow their children to stand right at the front!

Is anyone able to breeze through without becoming stressed? If so, please share your secrets to being calm!

Xanax?

I hear you! The people who have just landed on planet earth and begin to think about what may need to come out of their hand luggage / that jackets and belts need to come off just as they arrive at the scanner are the worst. Despite standing in a queue for 15 minutes observing what happens at the top …

then they merrily leave their tray to block the entire belt and wander off fuck knows where.

Improvement by degrees not elimination.

First thought is the airport you choose. Second is never flying Ryanair. Third is time of day you travel.

I agree about luggage scanning and belts being poorly organised, and also passport control has been made more difficult because of Brexit.

Other thing for me is using Eurostar and high speed trains abroad if at all possible.

This is a bit silly, OP. I mean, clearly other people also get stressed and fractious in airports, leading them doing the precise things you’re complaining about, and being aggressive towards ground and security staff etc.

The only things you can do are to leave yourself ample time, stay hydrated, eat so you don’t get hangry etc.

Far from alone - just look at the security staff at Manchester airport. They can't keep their cool at all despite spending all day every day there. What hope is there for the rest of us?

Wine. Wine is the answer.

I got trapped in a middle seat earlier in the summer. The woman next to had the cheek to ask if she could borrow my phone to make an international call before take off

I wouldnt have minded, but she clearly could afford to pay for her own bloody calls, she had a Birkin bag which probably cost her 5 figures.

She was huffy at me saying no to her request and proceeded to open and close her bloody bag though out the three hour flight, elbowing with her pointing elbows throughout.

I could barely contain my air rage by the time we got into the terminal building at the other side

I came here to say this. Sadly Eurostar isn't completely free of queues and congestion and check in nonsense, especially not since Brexit, but it's a vast improvement on airports.

I love the airport! Get through security then enjoy a couple of drinks and maybe food with a holiday to look forward to. I love the luggage carousel too, the excitement of the holiday in front of you. I don’t really see what’s stressful about it.

Is anyone able to breeze through without becoming stressed? If so, please share your secrets to being calm!

Yes, me and my family. I’ve never encountered issues at the carousel, or anywhere else that I can think of. We are generally pretty oblivious to other people. I might feel a bit knackered arriving back at Heathrow after an overnight flight, and keen to be on the road. But stressed? Nope.

I used to be cabin crew. 90% of passengers become adult sized toddlers when they get to the airport - either with tantrums over the most basic things or just not knowing how to behave in a civilised or polite manner.

I find I get disproportionately stressed in an airport - for me it’s the echoey noise, the crowds and especially the horrible artificial light, which does something to me neurologically and alters my mood. I suffer with migraines and certain types of artificial light really do bad things to my brain. I think for me that’s the factor which tips me over into ‘upset’.

Luckily I barely ever have to fly, I get very airsick and it’s no fun, plus we don’t get on with heat so DH and I don’t tend to go for holiday places a flight away - we are happy exploring Northern Europe by train, or more often than not a part of the UK we haven’t seen before. Much more enjoyable.

I hate them. I hate the lights and the sounds it all makes me feel sick and weird and spaced out. I had a year where I had to fly every couple of weeks and developed strategies - I have noise cancelling earbuds in and massive sunglasses and I book a lounge etc - but no they are awful places. Worse than shopping malls. Worse than theme parks.

I go by train wherever possible.

Chose the Eurostar over a flight earlier in the year, and found that much better!
also found that taking a ferry is much nicer, but that obviously depends on where you are travelling to.

I love them. It’s like a Lego world come to life and I never take anything in the hold se feel all smug that I don’t have to bother with that. Most people are fine and most of the ones who aren’t can be ignored.

Giant toberone and holiday thoughts - all fun.

My husband is like you he drives me insane, I think it is just anxiety and impatience where as I just skip through, my thoughts are we are only going to go as fast as the process let's us, I break it into chunks until I get through to departures. What makes you the most angry ?

It would all be fine if people knew how to behave/conduct themselves.

This year was a new one on the plane.... child playing game/movie with irritating sounds at an exceptionally high volume. Cabin crew say headphones or turn it right down. After huffing one of the adults in the group gave the child his headphones. Said adult then proceeds to play his movie exceptionally loudly. Its awful. I complain. Cabin crew say headphones or turn it down. He replies. "Well what are you supposed to do if you dont have headphone"...... really mate..... first of all you should be able to work that out for yourseld..... secondly - the answer was in the instruction from the cabin crew.... thirdly - how rude and entitled are you. Imagine everyone one flight turned the devices up full blast like that.

Ive had it standing in a long queue to get to passport scanning gate and a man and his wife navigate through huge queue behind me and stand in the tiny space between my kids and I and the people in front. I was livid. I told them to get back - his response - ive got a flight to catch. I politely and loudly told him that everyone in the queue had a flight to catch and they were all pushing in front of the short lady with a child on each hand. He moaned and went behind me - the guy behind told them to GTF and get to the back. Pointless animosity by a selfish passenger pushing in. Turned out they were on the same flight as us.

The pretending not knowing what to do at security does my head in too. And standing right next to the carousel, jostling for space..... STEP BACK SO EVERYONE CAN SEE AND BAGS CAN BE EASILY MOVED!!!

I feel the same, completely overwhelmed and overstimulated. I have found flying from Heathrow T5 so much more calming so will try that going forward where possible.

Departures early in the morning at Stansted is like the seventh circle of hell. I thought I was going to pass out with the amount of people and the overstimulation. Absolutely vile. Complete headfuck.

Do you know why this happens? Is it to do with a fear of flying maybe?

I also hate airports and flying. It's an inhumane way to travel imo. Unfortunately my family have other ideas and I usually get dragged abroad on a plane.

😄😄 love it - i am not a frequent flyer so dont mind the airport

You have my sympathy. I also get air sick from even a small amount of turbulence.

I don't have a problem with airports.
But I used Eurostar earlier this summer and that was chaos! Both St Pancras and Brussels coming home were horrendous - queues everywhere, no instructions/directions, security took forever, no waiting space. Brussels only had 3 toilets!

Give me an airport any day!

I am one of those people who can cause others look at and tut tut, every single time I sail past them.

I need to use the assistance service by booking a wheelchair to the gate. A heart condition prevents me from walking all those distances now. I'm met at the other end and whisked through also. I must admit it is very good to bypass all the queues for security, check it and so on, but I'd prefer to be well TBH.

Anyhow, the reason people stare, nod and judge me (not everyone, but many do) is that my illness is not visible. I look perfectly fine and can get up out of the wheelchair and walk to a seat at the gate no problem etc.

I sort of understand why some people resent me sailing past, so I might need to get a lanyard next time to signal something about me to them. Mixed feelings about that really on my part TBH.