Etiquette at 30,000 feet.
As airplane passengers, anticipation and excitement (or dread) usually comes with being unaware of who you will be placed next to when you board a plane. If you fly frequently, you're sure to have experienced the seat adjacent to the crazy old grandma, the snoring narcoleptic, the crying baby, or better yet, the insomnia-stricken blabbermouth. Unfortunately, airlines don't provide a little red button reading "trap door" to send your seatmate into a cloudy abyss, but if you dig a little bit, you will find that there are many advantages to simply knowing how to interact with strangers.
Flying is a perfect place to pick up ideas and trends, especially in technology. In striking up a conversation, you may find that this new seatmate of yours would actually be a potential client and you may find yourself giving him your business card. A few good etiquette tips are: be sure to speak softly, avoid personal questions, and read the person's body language. Somehow being confined to a small space for a number of hours gives people a sense of togetherness and it's not hard to find something in common (like how horrible the flight is).
However there are some perils to provoking even small-talk with a complete stranger. An example of this would be listening to seemingly endless hours of nonsense about the person's last surgery. In these cases you must be prepared with escape techniques. You may use gestures and body language to do this rather than rudely ending a conversation and being stuck in an "awkward silence" position for the rest of your flight. Putting on headphones, reading a book, or faking sleep, are all not-so-rude techniques to get out of a fix.
While terror attacks and bomb threats have decreased tourist activity in the past few years, numbers are once again rising. Airlines are beginning to replace their 136-seat MD-80s with 188-seat 757s in order to better accommodate the mass quantities of travelers. So in the midst of your travel to a new and exciting land, be sure to be friendly because you'll never know the treasures you'll find!
Flying is a perfect place to pick up ideas and trends, especially in technology. In striking up a conversation, you may find that this new seatmate of yours would actually be a potential client and you may find yourself giving him your business card. A few good etiquette tips are: be sure to speak softly, avoid personal questions, and read the person's body language. Somehow being confined to a small space for a number of hours gives people a sense of togetherness and it's not hard to find something in common (like how horrible the flight is).
However there are some perils to provoking even small-talk with a complete stranger. An example of this would be listening to seemingly endless hours of nonsense about the person's last surgery. In these cases you must be prepared with escape techniques. You may use gestures and body language to do this rather than rudely ending a conversation and being stuck in an "awkward silence" position for the rest of your flight. Putting on headphones, reading a book, or faking sleep, are all not-so-rude techniques to get out of a fix.
While terror attacks and bomb threats have decreased tourist activity in the past few years, numbers are once again rising. Airlines are beginning to replace their 136-seat MD-80s with 188-seat 757s in order to better accommodate the mass quantities of travelers. So in the midst of your travel to a new and exciting land, be sure to be friendly because you'll never know the treasures you'll find!
We've all had that experience in some way, shape or form. The best thing to do is know how to deal with it. Good poost with some great hints! I still wish there was a trapdoor button, though...
Posted by
Anonymous |
10:14 AM