Inflight Misbehaviors: Are They or Aren’t They?

By Robert McGarvey

A passenger on your flight is flagrantly drunk. Is this OK with you? Or do you disapprove?

A baby cries – ok or no?

A couple has a public display of affection – are you tolerant or not?

Blogs and newspapers are chock full of flagrant inflight misbehavior – here are a few record-setting FAA fines imposed for genuinely over the top misbehavior including head butting flight attendants and attempting to open airplane doors in flight.  No reader will dispute that these passengers are completely out of line and my vote is to ban them forever from flying commercial.

It’s with the peccadillos, the smaller violations, where doubts arise, even down to: is this okay behavior or isn’t it? Let the debates begin.

For instance: is it ok for a passenger to listen to audio without wearing a headset? Ask me and the answer is: Nope.  If I wanted to hear c & w flying to Madrid I’d have downloaded some to my phone. I just don’t want to hear what you want to hear. What’s your opinion? Before answering understand that there’s a recent YouGov poll that took a deep dive into exactly these types of behaviors.  Are they social infractions? Or ignorable instances of individuality? Vox populi.

Understand: the most widely disapproved behavior is drunkenness with 55% calling it completely unacceptable and another 20% saying it is somewhat unacceptable. That is the high water mark in this exercise with 75% thumbs down.  By the way, 4% called it completely acceptable and of course we know where those sports fans come from. The miracle is that they were sober enough to record a response.  

The most widely accepted behavior: crying babies.  9% called this completely unacceptable while 20% said it’s completely acceptable.  

As for passengers not using headsets, 59% call it wrong.  

Try this one: is it wrong for a passenger to remove footwear (shoes, socks, etc)?  51% say it is.  Just 25% say it’s ok, kind of.  Color me puzzled because I usually remove shoes on international flights (I can’t recall doing it ever on a domestic flight) – but my socks stay on even when flying to Madrid.  I don’t feel a twinge of guilt about doing this.

Here’s a flash point: is it ok to fully recline a  seat (in coach)?  You may remember I have written often and favorably about KneeDefender so that’s probably a tip off to my position and, yes, I think a fully reclined seat in coach is a violation of the social contract.  Do most travelers?  Yep. just 21% think it’s acceptable, while 53% label it unacceptable.

A few more questions to ponder:

Is personal grooming inflight ok? That’s hair combing, nail clipping etc.

How about chatty seatmates – ok or nay?

What’s your tolerance for loud and noisy children (not babies)? Are they out of line on a plane?

Backing up, public displays of affection are fine with 28% but 39% walk the Puritan line and say save it for home. What’s wrong with a public kiss? Don’t ask me, ask them.  I see no problem with displays of affection.  Better that than displays of disaffection such as slapping or punching.

As for personal grooming, 55% give it the green light.  

As for that chatty seatmate, 39% say it’s fine and and 34% just shrug that they have no onion on this.  That neutral group is the largest of any of the survey questions which surprises me.  I thought opinions would be stronger, pro and con.

And when kids are loud and noisy, 51% want to 86 them. Just 22% say it’s acceptable.

Which shows: what do I know?  Just about nothing and that’s why these surveys intrigue me. I know what I think is ok – but it is fun to find out where the larger public disagrees.

Even when they are wrong.