To Not understand why people get so selfish at the airport?

[virilityisbad]

I just don’t get why brits on their family
holidays get so stressy. I walk through the airport seeing them flapping about and highly strung. People are hugely territorial of their personal space. The sheer hostility towards fellow human beings in the queue for boarding.

Then on the plane, people up and down, up and down checking/fetching stuff from their baggage in the overhead lockers.

Then when landed, people in the middle
of the plane deciding they deserve to disembark first and so blocking the aisle for everyone else to get their bags.

What is it about airports that make people so selfish/stressed out

Worst flight I had was a recent one on Ryanair. Only carrier who did route I needed. A group of tipsy loud men were on the flight. They got drunker and drunker, we're singing on the plane, actually help up take off swapping seats with other passengers so they were altogether. The young cabin crew just looked intimidated by them and kept serving them alcohol.

I have also had some very rude security people at Heathrow airport.

@sueelleker that doesn’t surprise me at all. They don’t treat wheelchairs with any respect whatsoever. I was told I could just to lend my (very expensive) one to someone else for a bit as they didn’t have enough airport chairs to go round. My face was a picture!

The whole process of flying as a wheelchair user is awful. You are shoved around from pillar to post like an extra piece of luggage. Special assistance abroad is awful, as it’s never made particularly clear what the “rules” are and I always seem to end up getting told off 🤣.

It does make me laugh though that everyone on this thread who pushes to the front, stands up in the aisle, wants their luggage in the locker, wants to get off first or has screaming kids, has a perfectly good reason; whereas everyone else on the plane who does it is wrong.

@gingersausage I can only imagine the obstacles put in the way of flying as a wheelchair user! As I have got older, it has got progressively more difficult for me to get to the plane and on and off with people pushing and shoving.
I also felt unwell on a recent flight that had been delayed (on the runway) for over and hour. I must have looked unwell, too, but the cabin staff were too busy selling drinks (to supplement their meagre wages, I suppose) to ask me if I was ok.
everyone on this thread who pushes to the front, stands up in the aisle, wants their luggage in the locker, wants to get off first or has screaming kids, has a perfectly good reason
To go back to my original (rather garbled and long-winded) question, what the fuck are these reasons? In over 40 years, I am simply more baffled ... Where do they think they are going? How much faster do they think they will get there?

Agree that flying is vvv bad for the environment and encourages horror of bad manners.

So I do more Eurostar trips. St Pancras is now as awful as Luton airport - shoving queuing more shoving panic for storage space ...

Sometimes people want to get off a flight quickly because they are trying to make connections. They may either not have gold bags or are accepting that their hold bags won’t make it on to the next flight.

Two things always stand out for me. Most UK airports are pretty badly designed or over capacity now. The frustration begins as soon as you arrive with crowded departure halls and lack of clear signage. Often security queues funnel you down narrow spaces which sets people on edge. When you get through security the lounge is often packed, queues to get food and drink etc. I don’t think passing through an airport is relaxing at all. As and when they re develop airports, there needs to be bigger halls, more ambient lighting (is it me or strip lighting just puts me on edge!), quiet zones, spaces for children to play etc. I like in Heathrow T5 there are screens telling you how long it will take to get through security so at least you have a clue, and can plan what you have time for before your flight starts boarding.

Secondly, I don’t think Brits mind queuing in general if everyone is subject and abides by the rules. I mean the rules for flying have been pretty consistent apart from changes to carry on bag sizes (which is an airline specific thing). But it often seems like people turn up without knowing anything and then there are further delays in the queues because people have over packed bags, didn’t pay to choose their seat, didn’t separate out their liquids, didn’t check their bag sizes. That’s why people start to get annoyed and anxious.

I think the key is to arrive earlier, expect queues, try and take less luggage so you don’t have to worry about locker space, and pray on you’re not a flight with a lot of drunken hooligans.

I think sometimes people are in a rush, like if the flight is already delayed and they're about to miss their connecting flight. I have jumped up to get my bag from the overhead locker as soon as possible and literally ran down the airport and just about made it, if I didn't do that I'd have missed my flight. But if I'm not in a real rush I let other people do their thing.

but the cabin staff were too busy selling drinks (to supplement their meagre wages, I suppose) to ask me if I was ok.

If people want cheap flights where the flight ticket itself doesn't even cover the cost of the aircraft/staff, then it's hardly surprising that there's such a high emphasis on the "extras" which is where the airline actually makes its' money.

If we want and end to the cross/extra selling etc., we have to be honest about how much we're willing to pay for the flight in the first place and that means paying a lot more.

At least with them making money from the add-ons, those people who aren't bothered can get a cheap flight.

Mythologies I'm sorry you felt unwell on a recent trip, but surely the onus is on you to let the cabin staff know that and also what did you think they would be able to do for you? I'm not saying they couldn't have helped but they have so much to do that they simply don't have time to look after individual concerns unless it's something major.

I feel hugely sorry for cabin staff these days, it's not well paid but people expect so much like lifting of the heavy bags they chose to bring with them, being forced to enforce petty ridiculous rules and then being a glorified waitress and bouncer for the plane.

, no one wants your buttocks in their face

Being a bit dense here - but why would boarding from the back be any soffits boarding from the front

Because you get people all over the plane boarding, and they then stand in the aisle blocking it while they put their bag in the overhead locker, which then means that if you are sitting further back, you have to wait Whereas, if they boarded say the back 5 rows first, you could walk all the way through to the back and people could board more quickly behind you for the seats further forward. At least, that's the way I imagine it. However the fact that it doesn't happen makes me think the airlines have tried it and discounted it, which was why I was wondering if there was anyone working for an airline who could shed light.

Of course, if people would move in and let you past and then move back you to put the luggage in the overhead locker, that would also work. But for some reason they don't.

@Kazzyhoward I don't fly budget airlines out of choice - unfortunately, the place I travel too and from (for family and work) is served only by Ryanair - no other airport anywhere near - it used to be a 28 hour train journey - which you can no longer do since the British rail system stopped joining up even with itself.
I certainly agree that we need to rethink national and international travel!
@Sunflower - I am asking about the standing and pushing for those who are not late for any connecting form of transport.
And connecting flights does not explain rushing and pushing to get on the plane - that is just plain bizzare.

Aer Lingus board from the back on transatlantic flights, and are ruthless about sending chancers trying to board out of turn back to wait until they’re called. It seems to work quite well.

As for getting off, I was once last off a flight at LAX and ended up at the back of a 2 hour security queue.

Yes, that's why I like to get off fairly quickly - especially in smaller airports and on budget airlines, you get herded to a tiny passport check area with usually just 1 or 2 people checking passports, so if you're off last, you're stuck at the back of the queue which can take 30 minutes or sometimes even longer.

On arrival... I them have a member of airport staff (often someone who speaks very broken English) help me to the carousel...

How many languages do you speak?

And connecting flights does not explain rushing and pushing to get on the plane - that is just plain bizzare.

Now more and more people take luggage on board, there's often nowhere to put yours near your seat, so it may be many rows away, of if you're on last, you may have to put it in the hold if the overhead lockers are already full. I like to be in sight of my luggage in the overheads - only a couple of weeks ago, so numpty was trying to ram her suitcase against my soft bag in the locker, in which I had a bottle,ipad etc - she was really giving it hard shoves and could well have broken something if I hadn't been there to stop her being stupid!

I’m ex cabin crew, and love people watching at airports and on the plane. Passengers give me the rage with their faffing and ignoring the seatbelt sign when the captain switches it on. I got back from my holiday on Friday and watched the Americans and they’re the same as us Brits, but I can honestly say I’m my experience it’s not just the Brits who are like this.
I was sitting next to people with my dd, and I’m amazed at how many passengers were scared of flying and commenting on how nervous they were.

Maybe some people do like buttocks in their face

How many years ago did the massive economy check in queue start?

It's the speed you have to do unfamiliar things, the hostility of staff, the overcrowding as airports try to make the most money possible. And as a pp mentioned, if you do one thing "wrong" you'll lose your money as you won't be able to fly. All of those things are super stressful!

The seatbelt sign means absolutely nothing on US internal flights, people just carry on as normal, going to the toilet and opening lockers. Either it’s important and should be enforced or it isn’t and the sign shouldn’t be on. I’m not that fussed about someone else getting injured if they ignore the sign but I don’t want them to crash into me or drop something on my head.

So ... if I have understood the pushers and shovers correctly, it's all awful and the only way to travel is always and only to look out for yourself.
Which, I suppose, is what I am doing by boarding and disembarking last and watching you in bemusement.

Best example of stress about flying happened when I was waiting to board a flight back to the UK at Pearson in Toronto.

A woman (no idea her nationality) kept going up to the desk to insist on being boarded before the plane was ready. She did this every couple of minutes (seriously) getting more and more upset and louder and louder.

She was at the desk shouting at the airline staff and a noticed a couple of guys in flack jackets and big scary guns slowly approaching from the left, and more from the right, and a couple walked right past me. The woman was so preoccupied with her shouting that she didn't notice them until there was about 10 who surrounded her and walked her off somewhere.

Never made her flight. And we were delayed a bit while they removed her luggage.

I think much of the stressy faffing is a combination of infrequent travelling plus travelling in groups, so everything has to be discussed and arranged with everyone else. Where will we put this bag? Which bag has the iPad in it? Who will sit where? Let’s all stand in the aisle and argue about it!

It’s the same on trains whenever there’s a group of infrequent travellers. You would think it would not be that complicated to look at the seat reservation on your ticket, match it to the coach and seat, put your bag away somewhere and sit down, but nope! “Where am I? Are we B22? No B22. No this is C! Well who has got the tickets? Andrew? ANDREW, NAOMI SAYS YOU HAVE THE TICKETS IN YOUR BAG - oh, he can’t hear us, he’s gone the other way” all while there’s a polite queue of frequent travellers waiting behind them glaring laser holes into the seats.