Sex in an airplane seat? Making staff cry?
Why airline passengers have lost the plot
On a Ryanair RYAAY, -2.43% flight from Manchester to Ibiza this week, One couple decided to have sex in their seat. It was filmed by another passenger who appeared to think it was funny, while another female passenger reportedly asked to change seats. The crew did not reprimand the couple, according to reports. Ibiza is a well-known “party island.” A Ryanair spokesman told the Daily Mail that the company does not tolerate “unruly, disruptive or inappropriate behavior.” (A company spokesman did not respond to MarketWatch for a request for comment.)
If that wasn’t bad enough, another Ryanair passenger at Brussels Airport spent seven minutes videoing an employee because she told him that he would have to pay $50 to board the plane (as he had not printed out his boarding card). “Call security, I’m a customer, lady,” he says on the video, which was picked up by the New York Post. “I’m asking your supervisor’s name so I can speak with your supervisor because I’m unhappy with the way you’re performing your job.” The employee was reduced to tears and the passenger added, “Oh, are you having an emotional breakdown?”
Airline travel experts find the latest incidents shocking, and there have been many lurid tales of passengers behaving badly in recent years. “Unbelievable,” says Christopher Elliott, author of “Scammed,” a book about how to avoid shady deals. “Definitely a new low.” George Hobica, founder of low-airfare alert site Airfarewatchdog, added, “Maybe airlines need to have passengers acknowledge a code of conduct when they buy and when they check in for flights. Starting with ‘do not harass our team members and keep it in your pants.’”
What’s going on? No-frills airlines do lend themselves to more weekend travel and bachelor and bachelorette parties and, of course, some people like to start their vacations early. And with recent high-profile incidents where one passenger was dragged off a United Airlines UAL, -2.10% plane by security for not voluntarily giving up his seat, animals dying on flights and, in at least one case, a dog spending 33 hours in cargo due to a snafu over paperwork, some passengers appear to have lost respect for airlines. Even Nobel Prize-winning economists aren’t safe.
Gone are the days when people sip a martini and make polite conversation about the weather and people’s health, and dress to the nines when they’re flying commercial, and these recent incidents in the U.S. and U.K. this spring don’t bode well for what passengers can expect this summer when more travelers take to the sky. In 2016, airlines ranked seventh-to-last out of 43 industries in the American Customer Satisfaction Index. More than one-quarter of people (27%) described air travel as “awful” according to a January CNBC survey.
Airline passengers are grouchy. Seats on some American Airlines AAL, -2.26% forthcoming Boeing BA, +0.05% 737 Max jetliners will now come with two inches less legroom in coach. The “pitch” or distance between seats was previously 31 inches and will now shrink to 29 inches. There has been a glut of arguments involving seat reclining. In one such incident, a male passenger reportedly had a “Knee Defender,” a $22 device that prevents the person in front of you from reclining their seat to take 40 winks. In retaliation, a woman threw a glass of water on him.
All niceties are forgotten at 40,000 feet. People sometimes squeeze more onto planes in an effort to avoid baggage fees, which can go as high as $225 or more for a third bag on Air Canada flights from the U.S. to Mexico, according to that airline’s policies listed online. Add to that the long lines long lines in airports to go through security during peak summer travel times and reports of a possible ban on electronic devices on international flights by the Trump administration.
Improving the experience starts with the person holding your ticket, according to Jacqueline Whitmore, founder of the Protocol School of Palm Beach, Florida, who is also a former flight attendant. “Always alert the flight attendant to problems,” she says. She learned this the hard way after asking a mother, “Will you please control your children?” Her mother’s response was too colorful to be repeated here. Other tips: don’t try to fit the kitchen sink into the overhead compartment, go easy on the cologne (and garlic and onion), carry deodorant and breath mints.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sex-in-an-airplane-seat-berating-staff-on-video-airline-passengers-reach-a-new-low-2017-06-09
My comments: How Low can this American Culture go? We will see.
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