Reclined seats, bare feet and cans of tuna: The dos, don'ts and absolutely nots of air travel

The Current16:25Why do people behave so badly on airplanes?

Have you ever waited patiently at your flight's boarding gate at the airport, only for a horde of fellow passengers to rush forward when the first zone is called — even if it's not their zone?

Last month, American Airlines unveiled gate technology that will beep loudly and refuse to scan the boarding pass of any passenger who tries to board too early.

Etiquette expert Nick Leighton says the move could help to discourage that rush to cut in line, but added that airlines also have a financial incentive to make flying just that little bit unpleasant. 

"It is why we pay for early boarding. It is why we pay for upgrades. It is why we pay for all of these things," said Leighton, co-host of the etiquette podcast Were You Raised By Wolves? 

"If they just made it totally pleasant for everybody in every boarding group, well, what financial incentive is there for us to try and get out of that?"

Leighton spoke to The Current's Matt Galloway about bad behaviour in the skies, and what passengers can do to make the business of flying more bearable. Here is part of their conversation.

What is it about airlines that leads us to behave badly? 

Well, I think what is interesting about air travel is that it brings people together from different etiquette backgrounds. All etiquette is local. You know, Paris, Texas and Paris, France have very different etiquette. And both are correct in their respective locations.

But an airline brings people together who are operating from different etiquette playbooks. And so my idea of personal space or my idea of what is appropriate to eat on an airplane might be very different from yours. And we add to that people who are tired, sleep deprived, maybe a little cranky, hungry, stressed out, there's anxiety. It's a recipe for disaster. So I think this is just the inherent nature of air travel. It just brings people together who have different etiquette rules in their heads. 

You've got to wear headphones ... what a bonkers concept to be blasting something from your phone.- Nick Leighton

Do you recline your seat?

I do not. Because for me … that inch [of] difference makes zero impact on my comfort. So I am not a recliner, but reclining, it does exist. There is a button. It does work. Technically you can recline if you want, but in etiquette world, just because you can do something doesn't mean you should do something. 

So yes, you can recline, but is the person behind you six foot five? Are we in the middle of meal service? Are they using a laptop and are you going to recline real fast where you might snap their laptop? There's some considerations involved. 

What about not using headphones in public spaces? 

No. I'm going to stop you right there. No.

There's no justification whatsoever for playing whatever it is you happen to be playing — your podcast, Chappell Roan or whatever — without your headphones?

Here's the one exception to all etiquette: health and safety always trumps etiquette. So if there is a health and safety reason why you need to be doing something, then do it. Have at it. No etiquette questions asked.

So if there is a health and safety reason why you need to have your phone on, then okay, then do that. Otherwise, no. We have decided as a global society that we are not interested in hearing what is coming out of your phone. So you've got to wear headphones, especially in an airplane. I mean, what a bonkers concept to be blasting something from your phone.

How should people approach those who bring their own food on a plane? 

A lot of etiquette requires us to buy into a fiction, that something is not happening. On an airplane, the fiction is that, "Oh we are not jammed up against other people right next to us," and we just pretend we're alone, we pretend that we are not with all these other people. 

This is why you're allowed to start eating as soon as you're served. You do not have to wait for your row to be served. This is not a dinner party. We are not dining with these people.

One of the fictions is we also need to stay within our little bubble of noise, our little bubble of smell. We want to contain ourselves within our bubble. And so if you bring something very smelly [like] a whole can of tuna — which I just saw pop up on my social media — that's not great because that smell will leave your bubble and that is rude. 

Bare feet on a plane?

No. Except for that health and safety exception, which I discussed earlier. But yeah, in general, I would love for your socks to be on if possible. 

It doesn't actually really affect my life, but I would rather not see you walk to the bathroom in socks.… We all know what is happening in there. So I don't love the idea that you're stepping in wet puddles with your socks. 

But yeah, I think you know if your feet smell. And so if you take off your socks and it's under the seat in front of you and no one can see or smell them … it's the tree falling in the forest. Do your feet make a smell if no one knows? Who knows?

What's the golden rule when travelling, to not fall prey to some of the things that we have spoken about this morning? 

I think you just have to have a good sense of humour about travel. And I think you just have to approach it with sort of the idea that, yeah, this is a little unpleasant. This is not the glamorous, chateaubriand served tableside, Pan Am Clipper flights of yore.

I mean, we just don't live in a world of glamorous travel anymore. This is just sort of, you know, a bus that flies. And so we just have to acknowledge that, yeah, it's going to be a little unpleasant. We can tough it out, pick your battles, decide what hills you want to die on, and know that it'll be over soon.

And you are on that bus with other people. And so think about those other people when you're acting?

Other people exist. Yeah, I guess that's the take away.