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

The only way to fly is business class / first class. Staff are so NICE! No queues at check in, fast track security, the lounge, priority boarding, seat that turns into a bed, calm atmosphere, fast track customs at the the other end and priority baggage.

You can pay for quite a lot of that without going business/first class though. I sometimes pay for fast track security and priority boarding for example. You can also pay to use a lounge. It does cost a few pounds but nowhere near as much as a first class ticket. If you check in online there aren't huge queues at check in either.

The security check but stresses me. The number of fuckwits at that is incredible. “Do I need to take my XXXX off? “Of ducking course you do! Have you never been to an airport before!”

You can also pay to use a lounge

Those lounges are usually crowded and nowhere near as nice though.

You’re going on holiday, not the Somme - get some perspective.

Well, not necessarily! Not everyone flies once a year to go on holiday. Some people are flying because something awful has happened and they need to get where they're going as quickly as possible. I'm not excusing anyone for behaving like an arse and I've had people push into the middle of my family in queues too, separating DC from parents and you just think 'FFS, what are you trying to achieve here?' But some people are travelling for stressful or upsetting reasons - not everyone is flying off the sun.

This is so true! I am glad I'm not being over sensitive! I recently flew alone with toddler and HUGE bump about 33 weeks preggers, before I was a bit stressed about it, but everyone said oh don't worry people will see you and be helpful etc.. Yeah hahahaha NO chance.
My toddler was on reins and people literally would hit him in his face with their luggage while they barged through. It's not that I expected help, just a bit of human decency to look where you are going and understand we are alllll a bit stressed and in a hurry.
It's sad really..

May I apologise to travellers at Birmingham in the spring. I forgot I had n iPad in my hand luggage as it was a second one (don’t ask) so was called on to open it. Problem was, DH had locked it with a code only he knew - and he’d already gone through security and was zooming to the nearest caffeine outlet. Sorry for causing a logjam while he was retrieved.

I think a lot of people aren't prepared for the airport, leading to stressful situations and annoyance. They may be first time flyers or whatever.
When I go to the airport I wear ballerina type shoes that I can just hop in and out of if I need to. All too often we see women with shoes/sandals on that are a faff to undo/do up at security, causing hold ups and jams.
I don't wear belts and tons of jewellery.
My hand luggage is nothing more than a small handbag containing nothing more than my purse and passport and if needed, visa, and I check in online.
When called to the gate, I womble over and take a seat until all but the last couple of passengers have boarded, then I bimble on and take my seat with my handbag at my feet.

For some people it's a task akin to climbing mount Everest.
Faff about taking shoes, belts off, emptying pockets ( have you seen the amount of stuff some people have in their pockets?? )
Then dawdle about putting themselves back together at the other side.
Then there's the frantic searching through bags and pockets for passports and boarding passes, usually resulting in a row.
" I gave them to you, no you didn't, yes I did, you put them in your bag" which has the bag being unpacked before tickets, passports or whatever they're needing is waved triumphantly in the air. Then repackaging the bag, while the queue grows behind them.
A couple of years ago I was sat at the gate while others were boarding and I was agog at a couple who were insisting that the plane was going to Schipol airport, the man on the gate insisted it wasn't. The man was shouting, the woman was nodding furiously like a Churchill dog on speed and the gate man was trying to get his passengers through, despite shouting man asking the passengers if they were going to Schipol. 😅
In the end the police came and escorted them away, presumably to the correct gate.

Airports appear to be deliberately structured to make things as inefficient as possible. Why can't you deposit your check in bags the day before via something like DHL? Why can passport control each way not be done by the airline? Why if your passport has been previously approved can you not be grandfathered through next time - so moving to an exception based system rather than a keep everyone in passport control for two hours system. I could go on and on.

We stayed in the UK this year so instead of the airport we had a peaceful 2 hour drive. It was lovely. So much so that I have already booked next year's holiday at a different place in the UK. Given the summers we are having I have no urge to get on a plane ever again.

Temple Ryainair now allows you to check in luggage the night before at our airport. However due to the ludicrous parking charges, it would likely cost you around £10 to do so, therefore I took my chances in the morning.

Edinburgh gives out those green/sunflower lanyards for people with "hidden disabilities". Supposed to go through a separate SLOWER security process. When we went through the separate queue for the separate security, it merged with the regular queue for regular security. So the security agents don't see you're in the slow queue. They need you do move quickly.

Then the ducking lanyard has metal on it, so set off the metal detector meaning then a scan was needed and a bloody pat down! The ONLY metal was on the lanyard! So basically having the lanyard GUARANTEES being "patted down", which causes massive problems in and of itself (hence traveling in sportswear - including bra - with no metal buttons or zips etc and getting the lanyard).

We even wrote to complain (don't usually complain about things but this was more stressful than not having the lanyard - because we expected a bit slower and possibly a bit of compassion than if we hadn't had it). We used the official complaints system and said we wanted a reply (box to tick). Nothing.

I an normally well cosseted from the worst of airport travel by travelling in business/first class, long haul, in termtime. I love everything from the minute I set foot in the airport to the second I land at my destination.

A couple of years ago I had to travel on a budget charter flight to mainland Europe, slap bang in summer holiday season.

My god. It was like the end of days. Never again.

You poor thing.
Maybe we should all travel 1st class too.

Feel free, it's lovely behind the curtain

A soft bag would do and would take up a third of the space

A soft bag provides no protection to whatever is in it. If it ends up in the overhead lockers, some arsehole with a hard case and wheels is going to ram theirs into your soft bag, breaking anything fragile in the process, such as a laptop or duty free bottle. On my last flight, I had some crazy woman repeatedly ramming my ruck sack with her hard suitcase who wouldn't even stop when I challenged her - it took a steward to take it off her and put it further down the plane. It's why I like to get on early to get an overhead space close by and make sure I can see my luggage from my seat!

*Min2345

The security check but stresses me. The number of fuckwits at that is incredible. “Do I need to take my XXXX off? “Of ducking course you do! Have you never been to an airport before!”*

Well some of us haven't!!!

The security check but stresses me. The number of fuckwits at that is incredible. “Do I need to take my XXXX off? “Of ducking course you do! Have you never been to an airport before!”

But there's no consistency. So in some airports you have to take off your belt, in others, you don't have to. Same with shoes - sometimes it's on, sometimes it's off. Some airports want iphones out of jackets/bags and put in the tray separately, others want you to leave them in the jacket/bag. IF there was consistency, it would be a lot easier!

It's not as if the screening is accurate anyway. My mother in law left her bottle of water in her carry on and they never picked it out - she only realised when she was waiting at the gate and opened her bag for something else. I suspect a lot of it is smoke and mirrors to make it look thorough!

I sometimes pay for fast track security and priority boarding for example.

Sometimes those queues are longer than for those who don't pay extra. it will only get worse as more and more people are encouraged to pay for those extras.

On my last Ryanair flight, there must have been 90% of the plane in the priority boarding queue - it snaked right back and around the departure lounge, whilst there was maybe a dozen people waiting at the non priority board.

Kazzyhoward I pay the extras too as it gives you a choice then. If the other queue is shorter I just switch, but I have the choice. I do on the whole avoid budget airlines where at all possible, but some routes are only serviced by them.

Sometimes those queues are longer than for those who don't pay extra. it will only get worse as more and more people are encouraged to pay for those extras.

I use fasttrack all the time and have never found it to have a longer queue than the normal one. If it was then I just would use the standard queue. You have a choice if you pay for fastrack unlike those who don't.
As far as priority boarding is concerned it doesn't matter whether the queue is longer. You are still going to go on first before those who haven't paid for priority. If 90% have paid for priority those that don't pay are guaranteed to get on the plane last.

If it was then I just would use the standard queue.

At Manchester, you can't see the queue lengths when you enter the security area.

As far as priority boarding is concerned it doesn't matter whether the queue is longer. You are still going to go on first before those who haven't paid for priority.

But if you're at the back of the priority queue, the difference is negligible. To get on first you have to be at the gate far ahead of boarding time to get to the front of the priority queue which dilutes it's usefulness/benefit.

The irony of you sounded stressed by others appearing stressed

But if you're at the back of the priority queue, the difference is negligible. To get on first you have to be at the gate far ahead of boarding time to get to the front of the priority queue which dilutes it's usefulness/benefit.

I agree it won't make any difference to the very last person but most people won't be in the position. If you book priority you have more chance of being in the middle or the front. Even if you are close to the back you will still in front of those who didn't book priority. Regardless I have been on a lot of budget airlines and the great majority of people won't pay any more than they need to so the priority usually quite short.

The more people talk on this thread, the more it is sounding like a free for all - where it is of huge importance to push and shove your way on and off the plane before as many people as possible.
Madness!