Plane People
Did you ever notice while traveling on a plane people seem weird? Do you know what I am talking about?
People seem weird when getting off the plane. This is largely due to the fact that they are being thrust out into a massive airport terminal, are lost and confused and are trying to get their bearings. Another interesting phenomenom is when the plane didn’t originate from the city you are traveling to and instead is making a stopover. People coming off are dressed differently than you and to you seem out of place.
The opposite is true too. When getting off the plane, those crowding outside hoping to get on the plane one second earlier so that the plane doesn’t leave without them seem a bit off too. Whether it’s their clothes or anxiety about wishing they were in your shows, having safely landed with your trip over, or their impatience for getting home or to their destination they don’t seem right either.
When waiting to get on a plane you are never quite sure who will be getting on with you as you are surrounded by other gates and people are walking to and fro waiting for their flight to be ready for boarding. As you get on and sit down, the panic and confusion is obvious on people’s faces as you wait in your seat and wonder if you will be lucky to sit next to someone interesting or screwed and sit next to an idiot. Worse yet is sitting next to someone who is loud or restless on an overnight flight when you want to get some sleep.
The plane is an unnatural habitat for people that brings out character traits that are usually masked. I have the pleasure or misfortune depending on how you see it of traveling frequently and observe people often. What an interesting world we live in.
What do you notice?
I myself have always assumed that travelling makes most people very tired, and irritable as a result. Then there’s the *other* factors thrown in (all actually observed at differing times):
Add in the jet-lag and nobody is a very happy camper. Then there’s the possibility that your flight was overbooked and you really, really could not take those free air miles to travel at a later date, but seemingly nobody else could either, so you didn’t know until the very last second if you could even get on the plane, and you may be a little anxious. The lady on the flight desk has made all kinds of assumptions about you based on your appearance and has treated you as rudely as possible. And of course, throw in the fear that someone on the plane may be a terrorist, and nobody is willing to be very friendly. On top of all that, your friend whom you’re travelling with got bumped up to business class on his very first flight, while you have been travelling for years and have *never* been upgraded. While he sits in luxury, *you* had to stay behind in coach.
Yup, all of this will combine to make this traveller *very* grumpy.
I’ve been hearing recently that post 9/11 USA airline security measures and attitudes of security staff has been putting off international travellers. I guess the assumption that you, dear non-American traveller, are guilty and are treated as such by security officials (with a rude, unwelcoming, ‘let’s corral the cattle’ fashion) may make you want to go elsewhere on your next holiday. This is apparently hurting tourist destinations like Las Vegas and Florida.
Comment by london_meeja_whore — April 12, 2007 @ 3:46 am