Bad Manners on a Plane: What is WRONG With People? Also New Brunswick Does the Super Bowl

This was not my most pleasant air experience, so forgive me if I’m a little cranky.

I got up at 4:30 a.m. on Wednesday of this week for a flight from Toronto to San Francisco. Terminal One at Toronto Pearson was having baggage issues and there was a big line-up at the check-in counter.

I wasn’t in a great mood on the flight, I admit. But I read a book for a couple hours and tried to sleep, or at least rest comfortably.

That, however, was pretty much impossible as a couple across the aisle from me played some kind of video game for most of the last 90 minutes of the trip. Every minute or so their phone would make a loud ringing sound like an old-time cash register, followed by a loud “PING!” There was no way to sleep.

Um, couldn’t you turn off the sound, or try headphones?

Carry-on bags crammed into the aisle of an airplane. JIM BYERS PHOTO

That was annoying. But it was getting off the plane that really steamed my shorts. We all know the types who jump out of their seats the minute the plane lands and start grabbing the overstuffed carry-on bags they somehow managed to squeeze into the overhead compartment. This was a different wrinkle on that.

I was sitting in the aisle seat in row 31. The second we got to the gate, people in front of me, behind me and next to me leapt from their seats and grabbed their carry-on bags, which they plunked down in the aisle, thus blocking my exit path. I’ve never seen people do this before, and it was insane.

Simple etiquette and common sense dictates that you don’t plop your bag in the aisle and block people’s way. No, what you do is you wait for the row in front of you to get their bags and start walking down the aisle, then you get yours and do the same. If you want to stand up in the aisle to stretch your legs after a long flight and wait for people ahead of you, that’s cool. I get that, and do it sometimes to stretch my legs. But don’t drop your bag in the aisle and block the way of your fellow passengers.

(I posted a rant about my flight on Twitter and almost everyone agreed. One person, however, said he thinks the way people acted on my trip speeds things up.)

I am happy to let people off the plane ahead of me if they have tight connections. We’ve all had those way-too-tight timelines and have needed to scurry down the aisle quickly to catch our next flight, and I really appreciate it when the flight attendants ask people to let the tight connection folks go ahead. But nobody who was elbowing past me explained they had a connection. No, they just pushed past me as if they were some kind of rock star and I was the janitor who clears up the beer cups on the arena floor after the concert.

Polite travel isn’t difficult, folks.

Here a couple tips:

Don’t recline your seat all the way if you’re not going to sleep. If you ARE going to recline your seat, politely tell the person behind you of your plan, and then lower your seat gently so that person behind you doesn’t have coffee or red wine spill all over their nice, white pants.

Don’t bring smelly, greasy foods onto a plane.

If you’re travelling with kids, bring LOTS of toys and activities to keep them busy.

And, of course, don’t jump up and push past people in the aisle of the plane if you don’t have a tight connection. Actually, don’t do it even if you DO have a tight connection. Instead, tell the flight attendant about your problem a half hour, or a few minutes, prior to your flight landing. They’ll almost certainly ask folks to remain in their seats while you make your escape.

It’s a frazzled world out there, and also up there. We all just need to take our turns, smile and be nice to each other. Oh, and turn off the sound on those damn video games.

Celebrating Acadia Day in Fredericton, New Brunswick. JIM BYERS PHOTO

NEW BRUNSWICK GOES SUPER BOWL

The New Brunswick tourism department has bought an ad that will run during the Canadian Super Bowl telecast later today.

The ad will cost $186,000 but officials say it’s a good deal.

“Whatever we can do to drive traffic to our local businesses, to our local tourism attractions and to invite people to come and visit us, I think is a great thing,” Krista Ross, CEO Fredericton Chamber of Commerce, told CTV News.

I only visited New Brunswick for a travel story once, but I just loved it. I was in Fredericton on Acadia Day and watched locals dancing in the rain. I also had fine meals all over the province and loved driving the Acadian coast north of Shediac, as well as the Bay of Fundy coast near St. Martin. I had a fun visit to St. Andrews-by-the-Sea, where I went sea kayaking and visited the lovely Kingsbrae Garden. I highly recommend the Algonquin Resort, a Marriott Autograph Collection hotel.