Many passengers behave shamelessly in air travel. It seems like this is happening every day and it needs to stop.
As we approach the end of 2025, my thoughts this past week have been with those air travelers who have had to endure shameless air travel behavior from fellow passengers.
The worldwide COVID pandemic began in 2020. Around the same time, tempers flared and air passengers on many flights seemed to be getting the upper hand. Incidents of misconduct increased in the airline. Masks were often a trigger. A passenger on my flight in 2021 tried to tear off my mask at the gate. Fortunately, those days are over by the end of spring 2023. Unfortunately, while anger and abuse peaked during the pandemic, in my opinion, rude and discourteous passenger misbehavior remains at a fairly high level today.
Below are some of the worst and rude behavior issues that still plague air travelers today.
Parents with children and infants are among the worst-behaved passengers flying today. they change Do not clean seats soiled due to diapers and diaper changes in the cabin. They also leave dirty diapers in the seat pockets.
Changing diapers on seats.
Over the past few years, I have been the victim of abusive parents who changed their baby’s diaper in the seat across the aisle on two flights and changed the diaper in my seat once on a flight before I got on the same plane. I understand that flying with a baby or diapered baby is a big challenge, as my wife and I did on many flights years ago. However, no passenger should have to deal with diaper odor in the cabin, especially parents who think it’s okay to keep a dirty diaper in the seat pocket in front of them. This is not right! And it’s not okay when parents don’t protect the seat they’re using to change their baby’s diaper, leaving it dirty for the passenger sitting in that seat on the next flight.
Diaper changing on airplanes should be done in the lavatory. Most airplanes have at least one lavatory with a baby changing table, except in smaller lavatories where diapers must still be changed in the toilet, on the counter, or on the toilet seat, despite this not being ideal.
Playing music, games and videos without earphones.
When flying, whether on a business or leisure trip, many passengers want to sleep, work, read or watch videos to pass their time in flight. They don’t want to listen to someone else’s games, music or videos. When flying we are all in a shared space, and it is extremely rude and unpleasant for any passenger to impose their audio from their electronic devices on someone else, no matter how gentle. Earbuds or headsets are essential to keep one’s audio private to the user only.
Touching another passenger and taking up his/her space with your body is a serious problem that many more women travelers face than men.
Touching another passenger.
Especially in economy airplane passengers are seated very close to each other. Nevertheless, it is important for each passenger to physically remain in his or her personal seat. Arms, elbows and hands must remain within the limits of each person’s seat, not extending into neighboring seats. “Manspreading”, colloquially known as spreading the legs, is never correct. Every air passenger must remain within his or her seat. Never touch another passenger without their permission, especially if the touching is to the legs or torso. Every passenger must keep his hands, arms, elbows and other body parts to himself.
Letting your child kick in the seat in front of them.
It is never right for parents to allow their children to misbehave, especially when that behavior is directed against another passenger. Over the years, I have often been the victim of children kicking my seat. This is the parents’ fault. When this happens, don’t let it continue. Talk to parents and ask for their help. If the child continues, ask the flight attendant for help. Don’t let it go. Parents should be held accountable, and every passenger deserves the minimum comfort they can get on a normal flight.
Someone in your row takes off their shoes and socks and puts their stinky feet up.
Bare feet in the cabin.
It doesn’t matter if she’s barefoot on the floor, on the seat, on the tray table (yes, I’ve seen that too), or anywhere on the plane. It’s disgusting, smelly and offensive. In addition, passengers walking barefoot on airplane carpet are risking their health. Airplane carpets are dirty. It also doesn’t matter if there are stocked feet instead of bare feet, but no shoes. It’s still dirty and sometimes even smellier with bare feet.
The passenger behind me had the audacity to place his bare, smelly feet on my arm rest. I turned to him and told him, “Cut it out!” They did this for a few minutes, but then they came back again. I asked for help from the flight attendant and got it. She told him that if he stepped there again, he might accidentally spill a cup of hot coffee on him. After that he left me alone.
A reader told me about a young woman who partially placed her foot on her tray table, then began polishing her toenails. Luckily, the flight attendant stopped him before he could reach his other toe. It is imprudent and imprudent to remove nail polish and use it in the confined cabin of an airplane. She placed her dirty feet on someone else’s tray table. Then using nail polish in an airplane cabin, exposing all passengers to the fumes, is offensive and a health risk.
Sooner or later, long-haired women cover the seat backs and the screen with their hair.
Covering the seat back and screen with hair or seat covers.
Whether it’s long hair draped over the back of the seat you’re sitting on or a seat cover placed over the seat as a safety barrier against germs and dirty seats, covering the back of your airplane seat, the back of the seat, is unfair to the passenger sitting behind you. Passengers do not have the right to cover the seat back in any way as it is not their place. Seatback belongs to the person behind the seat. The tray tables and entertainment screens on some seatbacks belong to the passenger in front of them.
If you accidentally cover them and are asked to stop, do so immediately. do not hesitate. If this describes you, please understand that failure to comply with the passenger behind you is serious conduct.
These days most of the airplane flights are crowded. Seat size and seat pitch have been substantially reduced, especially in economy. Air travel today is stressful. Lines are endless, seating is tight, restrictions seem tighter than ever, schedules are tight, flights are canceled daily. Sometimes flights are seriously delayed, and lost luggage becomes an everyday occurrence. Add shameless air travel behavior and we all want to scream. But we have to remain calm and not be those passengers whose aggressive behavior hurts everyone else.
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After working for several years in corporate America as a chemical engineer, executive, and eventually CFO of a multinational manufacturer, Ned founded a technical consulting company and later restarted his photography business, NSL Photography. Before entering the corporate world, Ned worked as a public health engineer for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. As a renowned corporate, travel and wildlife photographer, Ned writes about travel and photography around the world, as well as runs photography workshops, seminars and photowalks. Visit Ned’s photography blog and gallery.
