How many of you have sat on a plane while the final group boards and easily finds places for all of their carryons? Now, how many of you have sat on a plane, waiting to depart, as flight attendants frantically gate check bag after bag? Frequent fliers know the second scenario is way more likely, and much more frustrating. The introduction of bag fees several years ago, plus the general increase of plane tickets, has led to a situation where no one wants to pay $50 round trip to check their bag.

So I’m going to go out on a limb here. When you check in, take a look at your boarding pass. If you are in the final boarding group, check your bag. It will make things way less stressful for you (and everyone else on the plane!) if when you board you just sit down in your seat, as opposed to getting on the plane, fighting your way to the back for the last spot in the overhead bin, realizing it’s full, then fighting your way back to the front so the flight attendant can check it.

If you’re concerned about cost (which is the main reason non- frequent fliers don’t check their bags), there are a few ways to check your bag for reduced cost or free. Most (if not all) of the legacy carriers have a credit card that allows one free checked bag. Often if you pay online, prior to arriving at the airport, you can get a reduced rate. And of course, one option is to fly carriers (like Southwest) that don’t charge for checked bags. (Seriously—if you are a non-frequent flier on Southwest, CHECK YOUR BAG!! There is NO reason not to.)

I know what you’re going to say. “Road Warriorette doesn’t understand! She gets to board first and never has trouble finding room for her bags!” But I get it, I do! Checking your bag will just make things way easier for you if you are in the final boarding group. And if everyone does it, it will be way easier for the whole plane.

For those of you on a budget, who are never going to check your bag unless it’s free, please, PLEASE make sure that it fits in the overhead bin space! Also, as a commenter mentioned below, make sure you put your smaller carry-on under the seat in front of you. If everyone did that it would also save a TON of room.

Readers, what do you think? Should people in the last boarding group pre-emptively check their bags?

Time for another edition of, “Is This Rude?”

Over the past several months, I have noticed something happening more and more often. People are boarding planes, trying to shove their rollaboards into the overhead bins, and they just won’t fit. So they climb up onto the seat to push it in. Then they get down and merrily walk on their way to their own seat. Honestly, I’ve been kind of appalled. I guess I see seats in planes like someone’s chair—chairs that are really close together, but chairs nonetheless. The idea of standing on someone’s chair would never occur to me, for any reason, but I’ve seen it happen on four of my last ten flights. In my opinion, if your bag won’t fit in the overhead bin it’s too full and you need to take something out or gate check it. When I think about all of the stuff that gets on people’s shoes, it icks me out to think of that same stuff on my chair! Really, the only thing I think is even a partial justification is if someone is very short, but even then, I don’t really like it.

Readers, what do you think? Is this rude? Or am I naïve for thinking that people should treat airplane seats like chairs?

April 2012:

• Although I hope you never have to travel while injured, here are some tips for making it easier. And yes, these are from my own experience.
• I spent a lot of time prepping for my two week conference, with strategies for packing and being out of the office that long.
• For some, eating at a restaurant is a time to relax and enjoy a meal. For others, it’s stress and anxiety producing. Try these tips to enjoy it more and stress less!

April 2011:

• I finished up the series “Building a Business Travel Wardrobe.”
• We talked about several different options for long-haul flights: t-shirt dress and leggings, yoga pants, and other travel-specific pants.
• A friend experienced a terrible breach in etiquette during a flight: someone clipping their nails. <<shudder>>

April 2010:

• My most important travel items three years ago are still valid today!
• I listed out the top three ways for dealing with the age old question, “Where does my purse go?”
• We discussed our best tips for remembering where you parked your car at the airport.

It has become clear to me that a lot of travelers are not clear on how to get to a non-aisle seat politely. I’ve covered it before, but after a recent flight I figure a rehash is in order. On this particular flight a few weeks ago I had the aisle seat, and when I got to my row I stowed my bag and sat down with my book. I never put my seatbelt on until everyone is seated so I can stand up and get out of the way easily. As I sat there reading my book, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that the line wasn’t moving anymore. I glanced up and realized there was a young guy standing there, just staring at me. He hadn’t said anything, so who knows how long it would have taken me to see him if I had been more into my book! I quickly jumped up and he slid into the window seat without a word.

A few minutes later, I was reading my book again when someone just started squeezing in front of me. It completely took me by surprise—I didn’t even see the woman come up! I said, “Hang on a minute!” and again jumped up to get out of the way.

When I have to get into the middle or window seat, I will smile at the person in the aisle-seat and say, “Hi! I’m sitting there.” Then I pause, giving them a chance to get up. If by chance someone doesn’t move I will ask them politely if they mind getting up. Sometimes they ask if they should get up, but typically people are happy to stand up and move out of your way. After all, it’s part of the deal with flying.

Readers, what is your experience with the middle and window seat? Do people usually stand up (or wait for you to stand up)?

Last week I flew to Nashville, but because of flight schedule changes I didn’t fly direct—I flew through Dallas. I swear, in the first twenty minutes of being on that plane I saw some very interesting things (that I will be writing about over the next few weeks).  But after the twenty minutes was up I started feeling tired and closed my eyes for a minute. I was just getting relaxed when I literally had a rude awakening and was knocked in the head by a backpack. Not kidding—I had a red mark for several hours, it was so hard. Apparently a lady was walking down the aisle with the backpack on her back, and turned to talk to her husband. The worst part is that the lady didn’t even notice she had whacked me.

Remember a few years ago when I reminded you to watch your shoulder bags while going down the aisle? Watch your backpacks too!!!!! For those of you who regularly use backpacks during travel, please make sure you are aware of how much space you take up behind you. Especially in tight spaces like bus or airplane aisles. I’m sure I have been guilty not paying attention before, but I never will again. The best way to make sure you don’t hit someone is to take your backpack off of your back and carry it. (Pictured: The very functional High Sierra Loop backpack, available on Amazon.)

Readers, have you ever had an unfortunate run-in with someone’s bag?

This post contains affiliate links.

(February is a weird word to write in the plural!)

February 2012:

• I compiled my favorite tips for the plane etiquette round up
• TOMS came out with ballet flats
• The New York Times and I disagreed about the top 5 ways to avoid baggage fees
• A friend got some help about traveling with injectable medicine

February 2011:

• I got some great packing tips for your more delicate items.
• Since missing loved ones is a hard part of business travel, I talked about dealing with homesickness
• The series Building a Business Travel Wardrobe started, with a focus on suits and business casual.

February 2010:

• I learned what to pack for a winter business trip
• After much trial and error, I shared my tips for dealing with swollen ankles
•  Snowmaggedon 2010 happened.

Let’s play another game of “Was this rude?”! The last time I asked this question we had a great discussion. This morning while flying to Dallas I saw something that seemed questionable to me etiquette-wise. This situation is (IMO) definitely not as controversial as last time, but I still thought I would put it out to the community.

This morning I flew on American to Dallas. I boarded with the Elites, and got comfortable in my window seat. A guy sat in the aisle seat, but didn’t put on his seatbelt or get stuff out—I assume he was waiting to see if someone needed the middle seat. As time passed, the plane (and overhead bins) got more and more full. Eventually I heard a women say, “Mind if I slip in front of you?” and moved (without waiting for an answer) into the space between the guy and the seat in front of him. He assumed (as did I) that the woman needed to get into the middle seat, and moved to stand up and get out of her way. “Oh, don’t get up,” she said. “I’m just waiting to get to my seat up there. I had to put my bag way in the back!” So, the guy just kind of sat there awkwardly while the woman stood very very close to him and waited to get to the front of the plane.

I’m of two minds about this. On the one hand, I’ve seen flight attendants do it often and it doesn’t seem rude then. Plus, well, if you have to get to the front of the plane how else can you do it? But it just seems like it would be super uncomfortable for both parties. Of course, the woman didn’t seem uncomfortable at all, like she did this all the time.

Readers, what do you think? Is it rude to stand in the row in front of someone? What could she have done instead? What would you have done?

 Loading ...

A while back, I did a couple of polls about whether it’s rude to recline your seat while flying. It was pretty well split—some people thought it was super rude and others thought it was mostly okay. In the past, I’ve always been of the mind that it’s perfectly fine to recline as long as you do it slowly, and don’t do it during meal service. Well, after my recent flying experience, I’ve had a change of heart.

A few weeks ago, I was flying home from Charlotte. I had some work that needed to be done, so I got out my laptop. Just as I set it on the tray (but before I opened it), the guy in front of me threw back his seat. Had my laptop been open, he would have broken it. I tried to open it, but couldn’t get it up enough to see the screen, and so gave up.

It’s not that I think that reclining your seat is always rude. In fact, I still think it’s not rude in most cases. However, unless there are extenuating circumstances, I don’t plan to recline anymore. I just don’t want to cut into someone’s space that much. (Of course, if the seat behind me is the exit row, well, I’m totally reclining.) I think people who have a medical condition should definitely recline as needed. I also think that anyone who reclines should do it slowly and mindfully, and try very hard not to just throw their seat back.

Anyone agree? Disagree? Had a change of heart as well?

A few weeks ago, my mom went to New York for work and said it was one of the worst flights she’s ever been on. It was a new plane, so the seats were a little bit smaller, oddly shaped, and hardly reclined at all. Worst of all, she was in the middle seat, and the people next to her took the armrests. It was a little bit understandable for the person in the window seat—that seat had no armrest at all on the other side. But the person on the aisle? Did he really need both armrests?

In my opinion, the right thing to do is let the person in the middle have the armrests. They have to suffer so much already, just let them have it! No matter if you have long legs, or whatever, they still have less room than you do! What’s even worse? Sitting in the middle and having the guy on your right jab you in the ribs with his elbow as he pushes your arm off the armrest, which happened to me once.

Other suggestions for showing the middle seat some love:

Help them when you can. Don’t make them reach over you to grab their beverage from the flight attendant. Be polite when they need to get up to use the restroom. Actually, now that I’m thinking about it, these are good etiquette tips for everyone.

Be aware of your personal space. And by extension, of the personal space of the person next to you. Their space is limited enough already without you leaning over to get stuff out of your bag and putting your head in their lap.

Readers, what do you do if you’re in the middle and can’t get an armrest? Suffer in silence? Ask politely to share? Arm wrestle?

Follow Road Warriorette on Twitter!

Business Travel 101 is a series from a couple of years ago about making that first business trip as easy and successful as possible. I’ve re-tooled the series, and now it’s more comprehensive than ever! It covers everything a new business traveler needs to know for that initial trip, including essential tips for packing, security, safety, etiquette, and comfort.

I often feel the goal of my blog is to help people have calmer, more peaceful trips. Preparing well, packing simply, and being mindful of your fellow travelers are all things I focus on often. If travelers enacted these practices, the traveling world would be a better place! We’ve talked about preparation and packing, therefor the obvious next Business Travel 101 post is about etiquette.

Etiquette is something I feel strongly about in my everyday life, as well as my travel life. Not necessarily the traditional, so-many-rules-it’s-hard-to-remember-them-all etiquette, but simply recognizing that you are not the only passenger on the road and acting accordingly. This is a list of my favorite etiquette guidelines, but not by any means all encompassing. If there is one that means a lot to you that I missed, let me know! And let’s all travel nicely.

Security

• Be prepared to go smoothly through security.  Know what the current security rules are for the location you are traveling through, and follow them. Have everything ready to go (laptop, bag of toiletries, shoes off, etc) as soon as you get to the bins. Have all change out of your pocket and your boarding pass out for people to see.
• Once you get through, grab your bags and bins and move over to the nearby benches so you don’t hold up the line.

Carry-on

• Know your airline’s guidelines. All major airlines have the size and weight restrictions for carry-ons on their website. If your bag is too big, they may make you check it. Also, there are slightly different size requirements for international carriers vs. American carriers, so make sure your bag works for each continent you’re traveling in.
• Make sure you can lift your bag. You may not be able to depend on having people around you that can help, and some flight attendants are prohibited from helping customers put bags up.
• Put your suitcase on the correct side of the airplane, facing the correct way. Listen to what the flight attendants tell you to do, and do it. If one side of the plane is made to hold rollaboards, please put your suitcase there.
• Only put your large bag in the overhead. Put your purse or briefcase under the seat in front of you, until you know for sure there will be room. Also, don’t put your jacket in a bin unless it’s going on top of or in front of your bag.
• Put your bag in the bin as close to your seat as possible. If you are sitting in row 25, and there is no room over 25 and there is room over 23, that’s one thing. But if you’re sitting in row 25 and you put your bag over row 8, the people in row 8 won’t have room.
• Don’t make it your plan to gate check.  If you bring a normal sized carry-on that you are happy to bring on the plane or to gate-check, that is one thing. But please don’t bring an oversized bag on the plane expecting they will make you gate-check it. If you are bringing too much stuff, check your bag. If you don’t want to pay the fee, bring less stuff. Don’t slow everyone else down because you’re trying to save $20. Read more of this article »