Skip to main content

My Top 10 Aggravations on an Airplane

By March 5, 2010March 6th, 2010Culture, Funny



This post will make me feel better. I know…I’m supposed to be an encourager, not a critic, but sometimes things aggravate me too. The truth is that thankfully more people are considerate of others than not, but this post was written on a recent airplane ride after experiencing many of these aggravations at the same time. I honestly couldn’t believe the number of people on this plane ride that were so inconsiderate of those around them.

So, in honor of my worst plane ride, here are my top 10 aggravations on an airplane:

  1. The person next to me who can’t sit still…
  2. The person next to me who wears too much perfume…
  3. The person in front of me who can’t decide whether to recline or not…
  4. The person next to me who doesn’t understand “personal space”…
  5. The person who can’t follow the rules…cell phones off…seat belts on…when instructed to do so…
  6. The person who brings his or her own strongly smelling food onto the plane…
  7. The one who becomes my “new best friend”…
  8. The one who has to get a good view out the window…even though he or she doesn’t have a window seat…
  9. The person who sings aloud to the music on their iPod, even while using headphones…
  10. The person who ________________…

You complete number 10.What’s aggravates you on an airplane?

There…I feel much better. Before you lecture me and tell me how you witness to everyone you sit next to on the airplane…I love the person…I just get aggravated that he or she isn’t more considerate of others. In a back door kind of way I’m hoping some readers will consider others around them next time they fly.

Are you “that guy” or do you try to consider how others are affected by your actions?

Related Posts

Ron Edmondson

Author Ron Edmondson

More posts by Ron Edmondson

Join the discussion 26 Comments

  • The person that can't take the hint that you just want some down time. (The disciples were horrible at this, thankfuly Jesus is patience)

  • Parents who get on a plane with small children and bring nothing to entertain them

  • Keep God First says:

    I have only one aggravation on a plane ride, and it's only on a long plane ride. (Flying from Germany to the United States is considered such a plane ride.) The lowered table right in front of me presents the most enticing temptation to lean over onto it and go to sleep like the younger, smaller passengers, but I seem just one year too old and one inch too tall and one inch too fat and one inch too close to the seat in front of me to be able to do that.

  • Tony says:

    1. When some tries to strategically get 3 other people to switch assigned seats so they can sit next to their friend or spouse for a flight that's only an hour… then I come on the plane and find someone's in my seat, because someone is in that person's seat, because someones in that persons seat…

    2. When a parent/guardian leaves a crying, 8 year old girl to sit next to complete strangers for a 12 hour, international flight.

    3. When you're sleeping and the person sitting behind you uses your head rest to help them standup or as support to sit back down.. thus, waking you up because all of a sudden you feel like your falling back.

    4. Parents who let their toddlers run wild in their row.. kicking everyone's seat, bopping their heads, etc..

  • Teri says:

    I've not had so much an issue with other passengers – it's with the airlines themselves.

    Terrible seats (tiny, lumpy, weird shaped), –rude flight attendants (I have a friend who works for United and I read his FB comments with the other flight attendents…grrrrrrr), –charging for bags (getting kinda ticked off about paying an additional $50+ so my 2 suitcases can come with me. Most of my travel I'll be gone for several weeks at a time – so I have to have 2 bags. That's why people are doing the super big carry-on bags!), –when you do get to eat on the plane the food is horrible – and you don't have enough time between flights to grab a sandwich, and so on.

    I'd say my only issue with other passengers is people who let their offspring act like baboons on crack.

  • Wayne Gough says:

    Actually just thought of one, the person in front who reclines their seat straight after lunch without checking if you have finished your lunch. So you end up wearing your food.

    There should be a torpedo hatch to swifty remove them from the plane

    the rest I can live in harmony with

  • blake porter says:

    OK, I have to say this. What about the person that FARTS!!! Yes, the non-potpourri odor that just happens to attack your nostrils like two UFC fighters inthe octagon.

  • Cheryl says:

    It all comes down to respecting the people around you which seems to be something we have lost in society…..Ron would be the first to admit that I’d be the first one to strike up a converstion with the person next to me, but I also know when to respect the other person’s right to what may be their only downtime after a long day. The golden rule is always a good one to live by….

  • I can't believe you forgot the people that bring on unbelievably out-sized 'hand luggage' – the stuff that barely even fits in the overhead locker and certainly doesn't leave any space for anyone else 🙂

  • Becky says:

    My frustrating goes with the carry on: the person who boards the plane first, has a seat in the back but has to put their carry on in the first overhead compartment and causing the people who need it to use ones that are behind them (sometimes four or five rows behind them)!

  • Wayne Gough says:

    Has nothing good to say about the person next to them

  • Patrick says:

    The person that thinks they should be allowed to carry all their earthly possessions onto the plane and stow them in the overheads. Those giant suitcase "carry-ons" drive me crazy. Overhead compartments should be done away with and people should have to hold their bags in their laps. That'll teach them what a "carry-on" really is.