When did I become such a snob? A travel vent.

[audette]

Flying in coach sucks. However, paying for business class is more than my employer is willing to spend. (or, generally, me)

So, it's deal with coach, or just not fly... When I'm lucky, I get bumped up a class of service. Maybe that will happen more once I am back in the US, and my decent number of airmiles adds means something to the primary carrier on more of my flights...

[treedimensional]

Dec 4, 2014 8:03:06 GMT -5 RockNVoll said:

I don't think I can handle long-haul flights in coach anymore.  I always get stuck sitting next to a guy who insists on sitting with his legs spread as wide as possible, even sticking his foot under my seat-front space, taking up the whole arm rest.  The guy on the last leg of my flight home dropped food and a (empty) water container on me. Meanwhile the lady behind me kept pushing on the back and pulling on the top of my seat which is a huge pet peeve of mine.  Another guy totally shoved me with his whole body as he squished me against the aisle to get to his bag.

I admit that I am turning into a crotchety old woman before my time, but damn people annoy the shit out of me. 
I've never upgraded to business class before but I may have to work on figuring out how to do it.  I've always saved my miles for free flights and things like business class just weren't a realistic thing for me outside of actual business travel (and in that case I actually flew in more private planes than business class so talk about opposite ends of the spectrum).  I feel like such a snob.

I am 100% with you on this. The pervasive male crotch displaying sends me into a rage. And they do it no matter HOW tightly commuters are packed.

[scout8]

I don't think it is that you are becoming a travel snob. It is that the airlines have made travel absolutely miserable. How can a person not be miserable when they are crammed into such a small space?

We were going to go to South Africa this year, but we didn't have quite enough points to go business class. We decided to wait until we have enough. The thought of that long of a flight in coach made me want to cry.

We ended up going to Chile. We flew coach, but it wasn't quite as long as South Africa so I figured I could handle it. We got lucky on both flights. We were in the back and there were some extra seats. I was able to move into an empty row so we each had two seats. It made such a difference. Even though I am tall, I can lie down in two seats and actually get some sleep. Not as nice as business, but much better than one seat in coach. I wonder if I could start buying an extra seat in coach on long flights. It would be cheaper than a business ticket and make me much happier.

[UnderProtest]

Ugh, don't say this. We are going to the Maldives in March and my husband wouldn't spring for business class. I've gotten a little used to it since we can fly business class for our home leaves.

[drloretta]

Dec 4, 2014 8:45:09 GMT -5 RockNVoll said:

Dec 4, 2014 8:23:26 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

If people were less selfish and kinder to each other it could be so much better.  Yes the airlines aren't helping but if people would just show some basic decency I wouldn't have wanted to punch someone in the face all day.

This is where I am. I used to like to fly, now people are so rude and not at all nice. I was pleasantly surprised at the niceties I saw last week at Logan, but sadly I noticed it because it happens so rarely these days.

[womet]

Dec 4, 2014 8:45:09 GMT -5 RockNVoll said:

Dec 4, 2014 8:23:26 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

You're not a snob (or if you are, I am too because I feel the same way). When my neighbor puts his/her foot in my foot space it makes me RAGE, and I am not above glaring at the person behind me if they won't stop kicking/grabbing my seat. I wish I could afford to fly only business class.

Oh, trust me, I said something to the woman behind me after repeated looks at her changed nothing.  She was all,


like she had no idea what I was talking about.  Bitch.

If people were less selfish and kinder to each other it could be so much better.  Yes the airlines aren't helping but if people would just show some basic decency I wouldn't have wanted to punch someone in the face all day.

You're definitely not a snob. We don't travel much, but I am so excited about having to travel in business or first class for work because of my risk of clots. So many of my coworkers do work overseas and take the Atlanta to Johannesburg flight, and the thought of taking that flight in coach makes me want to gauge my eyes out with a spoon.

[simpsongal]

I hate when men sit with their legs spread like that. I actively avoid sitting next to men on the metro b/c of it. If I get a wide-sitter it makes me rage during the whole commute.

[rikki]

Showing my total snob, but I have been this way for years. Traveling is stressful enough without having to sit on top of someone who is rude, crude, and ill-mannered. I've gone through over a million points in the past few years upgrading and have paid when points did not cover it. I am running out of points. Maybe it is time to look for a new job where I can collect them again!

[Pom]

Good gawd, why are people so rude. It's miserable enough as it is. I love to save money but hate flying. So all of my flights this year have been first class. Coach makes me want to cut myself and everyone around me.

[Deleted]

Not snobby, traveling turns people into assholes. It's just not civilized and rarely brings out the best in people. It seems it's rare you get a nice seat mate lately. Far too often it's someone trying to turn a coach seat into a business class one.

[mbcdefg]

Dec 4, 2014 8:30:06 GMT -5 scout8 said:

I don't think it is that you are becoming a travel snob. It is that the airlines have made travel absolutely miserable. How can a person not be miserable when they are crammed into such a small space?

I agree. I hate how unpleasant it is.

[krystee]

I am in an exit row as we speak and it has two seats. The "gentleman" behind me (who does not have a seat in front of him) put his stuff in the seat next to the seat in front of me (sorry, this is confusing). Which is fine...except that he took his shoes off and they don't smell pleasant and now they are six inches from me. And now he is on his phone at top volume and he sounds like one of those smarmy, schmoozy business people you can't trust. I hate him.

[Deleted]

I agree that poor travel manners are incredibly difficult to deal with! Why doesn't everyone just kick butt at being a seatmate....it would be much, much more pleasant.

I find when I am traveling solo, things are more difficult than when I have my H as a seatmate. Coach is tricky, but economy plus can make it bearable, and when we have the two of us together, we can make due.

In your case....rude (often male) seatmates who take up all the space...they are the suck.

[hopenotlost]

You're not a snob. Shit like that bothered me when I first flew when I was 10. I would fly to and from the Middle East twice a year from Iowa, and I got very irritated with people like that. I don't understand how people can't have common courtesy, especially when packed in a fairly small area with a lot of people. It's like their brain cells freeze once they step into an airport.

One time when I was about 22, I came home from visiting my dad, and I was on a flight from Madrid to Atlanta. A lady in front of me was pissed because I put my carry on under the seat in front of me (so under her seat). That is where I am SUPPOSED to put it, other than in the overhead. That's why there is a bar under her seat--so the bag doesn't slide out from underneath her. She literally kicked my back as hard as she could, and I informed her that she needed to stop doing that. She wanted to put her feet back there (which would be so uncomfortable I would think--putting your feet back and hooking them over that bar?). She got so mad she had the flight attendant come over and "tattled" on me. The flight attendant told her that's where my stuff is supposed to go and she needed to get over it.

Later on, she kept trying to push my back bag. Lucky for me, the bag was one of those smaller carrying on bags with wheels and a pop up handle so I could pull it. I turned it around so the hard bottom was where her feet would kick. She thought she was doing damage, but she wasn't.

We landed in Atlanta, and we had to go to baggage claim. After I got my stuff, I was walking by the service desk and this lady was in an uproar because one of her bags was lost. She saw me walking by and I gave her a big smile and waved. Thank you Karma.

Wow, that was a long story. But I like it.

[raangoli]

All I can say is preach ... travel has become this awful nightmare.

[sa]

Not a snob! Anyone would have been irritated with that.

I am very non-confrontational, but if that guy was putting his feet and legs on my side I would say something every single time he crossed that line.

The rest I would have given glares and sighs, but probably would have just seethed inside.

[emilyinchile]

Dec 4, 2014 8:45:09 GMT -5 RockNVoll said:

If people were less selfish and kinder to each other it could be so much better.  Yes the airlines aren't helping but if people would just show some basic decency I wouldn't have wanted to punch someone in the face all day.

YES. Guys, we're all in this together, so let's try to be patient and understanding.

But also, do not fucking touch me. My arm is on the armrest in a perfectly normal, sharing way, it is not an additional part of the armrest to lean on. I can't deal with people who do this, and it's happened a few times. I'll shift my arm at first to indicate that they are actually leaning on a human being, not a part of the seat, and that should be enough. But last time I had to say something THREE TIMES ("excuse me" in a "oh, oops, we're touching" tone, then "excuse me" in a "but really, excuse YOU" tone, and finally "can you please stop elbowing me, every time you move your arm to swipe your iPad you elbow me" in a "crazy lady is about to lose her shit" tone).

In summary: I feel you.

[hulley]

I don't think you're a snob. I hate flying now. It's almost always an ordeal, and I usually fly route with lots of kids. When I flew Boston to DC while my sister lived in VA, I always got stuck with some jerk falling asleep on me. Since it was such a short flight I never upgraded but I should have. I think as we get older our tolerance for inconsiderate people lessens.

[heygrey]

We're sharing flight horror stories?

Last year I was on a red eye from Vancouver to Toronto and thought I had majorly lucked out to get an aisle seat in the middle row with no one in the middle seat. I was 26 weeks pregnant so not sharing my armrest and having a little more space was a huge bonus. Until the flight took off and the lady on the other side of my row laid down across the empty seat and put her feet in my lap. She started out contained to two seats, but as she fell asleep her legs would stretch out and end up all over me. I woke her up twice, and the third time I totally tattled to the flight attendant. I was already annoyed that she just claimed the empty seat entirely for herself, but, bitch, get your feet off me.

[UnderProtest]

Dec 4, 2014 8:45:46 GMT -5 RockNVoll said:

Dec 4, 2014 8:32:39 GMT -5 UnderProtest said:

Ugh, don't say this. We are going to the Maldives in March and my husband wouldn't spring for business class. I've gotten a little used to it since we can fly business class for our home leaves.

I'll be thinking of you.

Shush.  He didn't tell me it was an 11 hour flight until after he had booked coach.  

[mskitkat]

I recently had someone vaping next to be and blowing the vapor stuff at me. When I very pointedly started coughing (because ew), she started yelling at me that it was just water vapor and nothing else, and I needed to get over myself. I am not ashamed I basically yelled at her until she put it away.

[Deleted]

I don't know how people travel in coach for long distances on a regular basis. I don't fly super often and I've never gone super far, but even shorter flights make me want to scream. I once sat beside a disgruntled teenager who listened to her heavy metal super loud for four hours straight with her legs drawn to her chest and her face buried in her knees. The only time she moved was to look up and give everyone dirty stares. We have so many places we want to see but when I think about a long flight in coach, America seems like a nice destination.

[Deleted]

heygrey--thats gross!

One of these days I'm going to lose on some man who puts his suit jacket/overcoat up in one of the over head bins on a full flight and expects it to lay their flat, taking up the whole bin.

[hopenotlost]

Dec 4, 2014 9:46:54 GMT -5 RockNVoll said:

Dec 4, 2014 9:36:29 GMT -5 @choco said:

OMG you are far from a snob. I am shocked your employer didn't let you book a business flight for such a long hauul flight! That is pretty awful after a crazy week of work.

Oh this was personal travel, not for work. 

hopenotlost, that lady in front of you was crazy.  And she kept kicking your bag?  I would have started poking her through the seat back every time to match.  Maybe I'm part of the problem rather than the solution, LOL.

Yep she was a wench!  

[audette]

Dec 4, 2014 12:32:29 GMT -5 papiercherri said:

I don't know how people travel in coach for long distances on a regular basis. I don't fly super often and I've never gone super far, but even shorter flights make me want to scream. I once sat beside a disgruntled teenager who listened to her heavy metal super loud for four hours straight with her legs drawn to her chest and her face buried in her knees. The only time she moved was to look up and give everyone dirty stares. We have so many places we want to see but when I think about a long flight in coach, America seems like a nice destination.

I find it helps to bring my knitting (when security in the countries I am flying out of/thru allow it). It allows me to at least pretend to ignore things that annoy the crap out of me, helps calm me down, and I can "shift" while working on my knitting just enough to let someone know if they have entered my personal space (like the armrest hoggers or the leg spreaders a few folks have mentioned).

Weirdly, I _still_ have people act shocked in the US that I can bring my knitting needles onto flights (yes, people, the TSA has allowed knitting needles, specifically by name, for over a decade now...). And I am perfectly able to gush over how awesome it is that I can bring my knitting when I need to.

I know I don't travel as much as some on this board, but all of my tickets are bought as coach seats. That is all my employer will pay for (and, honestly, if they wanted to pay for business class, I wouldn't get approval for nearly as much travel as I do, and that would be bad for our business). And, I'm cheap enough it's all that I generally will pay for (unless the cost for business class is barely more than coach for whatever reason... did buy business class seats for vacation last year when the cost differential was only $400 each for a 12 hour return trip). I'm approaching that million miler thing with AA - most of it in coach. Whee...

[Deleted]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh panda triplets!

/dead

[M]

If that makes you a snob then I don't want to know what I am lol.

Business/first class is one of the things we're having a hard time cutting out of our budget. It's hard! All the business trips we've taken this year were first class paid by the "company" haha. For the 2 personal trips to LAX, we booked coach and prayed for first upgrades. We got stuck in coach on one trip but luckily everyone was acting like adults and no screaming kids, but the seats...so cramped. Waah. I'm a petite person... I can't imagine taller people.

On one of those trips we took a red eye back and was able to upgrade to first. I like looking out the window so the shades were still open when we just took off. Rude ass jerk behind me reaches over and slams my shade shut. Not quietly..full force slammed it. I don't take well to rude people so of course I popped it right back open as hard as he slammed it. Then this jerk had the nerves to jam his nasty ass foot in between my seat and the wall...right in front of my face while I'm still looking out the window. I lowered my seat back to see what he would do...nothing. I got my glass of red wine and was going to pretend to fall asleep and spill it all over his nasty tennis shoes, but he moved it before I could.

[cheezer]

Welcome to the club. I used to jaunt off to Europe for a 3 night vacation, obviously flying coach. To me at this point it sounds like hell.

I just don't have the patience anymore.

Also,after this most recent trip that was in business I never want to fly anywhere outside the US again in coach. I can't decide what was better - the free Veuve Clicquot or the lay flat seats.