10 passengers we love to hate: Day 8 — passengers who misuse the FA call button

by Scott Carmichael on

We’ve already reached the 8th day of our “10 passengers we love to hate” lineup. You’ve been able to read about passengers who misbehave around the baggage carousel, people who don’t know how an escalator works, and folks who annoy others with their Bluetooth headset.

This entry in our lineup is about passengers who think the attendant call button is a butler call bell. For some reason, almost every flight has one of these jackasses on board.

10 minutes into the flight, you’ll hear the first ding. Now, I’m not against using the call button for an emergency, or if you are in dire need of a drink to help take some medication, but the call button is not there to assist you in making a drink order before the attendant starts the drink service. It is also not there if you want to know how long it is till the plane lands.

Also, on many flights, there are always people who can’t see the difference between white and orange buttons, and keep pressing the call button thinking it’ll turn their little light on – unless you are severely color blind there is no valid reason to hit the wrong button.

So, unless you are unable to walk, just get out of your seat and walk up to the galley for whatever it is you need. It’ll help stretch your legs (and prevent DVT at the same time). Bottom line – the flight attendant is not your butler, and they have another 100 passengers to deal with.

10 passengers we love to hate: Day 7 — mobile phones and Bluetooth headsets

by Scott Carmichael on

It is already day 7 of our 10 days of passengers we love to hate lineup.

Today’s annoying passenger is a relatively new phenomenon, and has been slowly going from bad to worse in recent years.

I’m of course talking about people who never learned basic phone etiquette.

As a geek, I should be more immune to these annoyances, but there is something about the loud Bluetooth headset wearing passenger that makes me want to punch them in the face.

For some unknown reason, as soon as some people clip their headset to their head, they turn into really annoying people. Even people who are normally quite quiet think the airport is the perfect place to make random loud calls to people they’d normally not talk to.

I have a theory about it – these people think that talking on the phone at the airport makes them look important. They see “real” business travelers around them, and have the urge to try and blend in and look impressive.

Well, I have news for you – if you walk through the airport wearing your headset and talking loud enough for the entire terminal to hear you – you are a dork.

The worst offenders are people who don’t hang up and remove the damn headset when they are talking to someone else. Ever been behind one of these jerks? They are in line waiting for a ticket agent, and kill some time on the phone with their stock broker/money manager/bookie/therapist. Then when it is finally their turn, they think it is cool to continue their phone call and try to have the ticket agent help them.

I love technology, and I think the Bluetooth headset is a great tool, but unless you are expecting phone calls 24/7, just put the headset away. Really, you are not that important.

10 passengers we love to hate: Day 2 — bringing a warm meal on the plane

by Scott Carmichael on

Today’s annoying passenger is a tough one – I’d love to hate them more, but their annoying behavior is not entirely their fault.

Still, passengers who think it is cool to bring a huge bag of warm food on the plane are high on my list of airplane pet peeves.

Sure, they are probably hungry, and they need to bring their own food, as the airline won’t be feeding anyone. But many of these passengers bring really smelly food.

I’ve sat next to someone on a 6am flight who thought it would be fine to bring a massive breakfast platter on board. He had the works – eggs, bacon, sausages, hashbrowns and breads. The whole plane smelled of his breakfast, and many of the passengers were clearly annoyed.

Is it that hard to find a less smelly snack that early in the morning? International flights are worse, especially when the airport sells a large variety of really smelly foods. Next time you are waiting in line to order a meal for your flight, first check your watch to see if you have enough time to eat before you board, if not, then order something that is least likely to annoy your fellow passengers. If that is not an option, then you’d better have enough cash to order food for the entire plane.

Read about ALL the passengers we love to hate.