ONE of the worst aspects of air travel is having to deal with other passengers.
Hundreds of people crammed into a tight space for hours and hours is always likely to cause problems, so it’s important to know how to behave.
GettyAisle seat passengers should tell people if it’s okay to wake them up[/caption]
TV travel expert Samantha Brown has revealed two simple etiquette rules that she believes everyone should follow in order to maintain harmony on planes.
Firstly, she addressed a very specific situation – when you’re sitting in the middle or window seat and need to get up to go to the toilet, but the person sitting in the aisle is asleep and blocking your exit.
She told her Instagram (@samanthabrowntravels) followers that in that situation, it’s perfectly acceptable to give the snoozing person a nudge.
In a video she filmed while sitting in the aisle seat, she said: “I’m going to take a nap on this flight, but I’m a light sleeper.
“So if you need to get up and use the bathroom, just tap me on the shoulder.”
She also said that it’s up to the aisle seat passenger to let the other people in their row know what the rules are, if they’re planning to have a snooze.
Secondly, Samantha said that conversations from strangers weren’t welcome, suggesting that others shouldn’t expect a chat.
She added: “I’m not a talker. Plane time is me time.”
Samantha’s 349,000 followers enjoyed her advice, with plenty of them agreeing that it was up to the person in the aisle seat to lay down the rules.
One wrote: “Taking the initiative! You’d be a dream to sit next to on a flight!”
Another said: “They should add your travel advice videos to the inflight safety instructions.”
A third added: “Yes, please do this! I recently had a lady say this and it changed the entire flight. I didn’t have to worry and I could sense her kindness.”
It’s not just other passengers who might need to wake you up during a flight, the cabin crew might need to do so as well.
One airline has introduced a sticker system, so the flight attendants know whether or not to wake snoozing passengers during food or drinks services.
Tiktoker Megan Homme (@meganhomme) showed the system in use with a video she shared online.
The airline, Iceland Air, provides each passenger with a red, yellow and blue sticker to put on if they’re planning on having a nap.
The red sticker is a signal for the flight crew to not disturb the passenger, the yellow showed that the sleeping person wanted to be woken for food and the blue highlighted they wanted to be woken for duty free.
In her video, Megan said: “I’ve never seen this on a flight before…
“I missed breakfast on my first flight so not letting that happen again.”
Meanwhile, this is the magic phrase you should always use if you want to stop someone reclining their seat on your flight.
And this is who should get priority of the armrest in the middle of the seats.
GettyIt’s up to the aisle seat passenger to let other people know the rules[/caption]