Why Does Putting Luggage in the Overhead Compartments Turn Us Into Animals?
It's not the most sophisticated position, but it's an undeniable empirical fact that Americans are often more polite and docile than many other nationalities. Compare driving in Los Angeles to maneuvering through a Southern Mediterranean road. Or walking out of a Midwest basketball game to fleeing a South American soccer stadium. Or queuing up for the Metro in DC to jostling for the bus in the Middle East. Or doing anything to flying on RyanAir (ok, that may not be fair - but seriously, this is beginning to piss us off).
So why is it that the simple process of placing luggage in overhead bins is such a logistical and interpersonal disaster? It's not a matter of stress: passengers are just fine when they're lining up to get on the plane. They're rarely hostile. No one shoves anyone else for position, even on cattle calls with no assigned seating like Southwest. Just a quiet line and orderly movement.
But when it comes time to raise a suitcase or bag off the ground, it's suddenly a post-apocalyptic Mad Max battle for survival and supremacy. There's bumping. There's occasional yelling. And very often there are exaggerated, petulant displays of frustration where people will slam their luggage around loudly, as if to make a point.
What is it about that moment that causes people to forget they're human beings interacting with other human beings? A few months ago we saw a woman go out of her way to ram her suitcase into a fellow passenger's transparent, bottle-filled shopping bag. Apparently she didn't think it should be there, since that was her space. About a year before that we saw a guy take out the jacket of a seatmate and drop it into the aisle. In his mind the seatmate was using too much of the overhead bin.
What is going on with these people? Don't they understand that there's a flight ahead and that the plane is locked? Those other people aren't going anywhere.
Here's a secret: airplanes are designed so that there's enough room for everyone. Even on a full flight, the flight attendants will find somewhere to put your luggage. We promise. So how about you just calm down and stop making a spectacle of yourselves? That way we can go back to silently judging you for being abnormally slow in the aisle, rather than for being abnormally slow and irrationally rude. Makes everybody's life easier.
[Photo: dboy]
Related Stories:
· Travel Etiquette Coverage [Jaunted]
· Airplanes Coverage [Jaunted]
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