How to Handle Annoying Passengers During Your Journey

No matter if you are traveling for leisure or for business, the most hectic part of your trip is usually the journey. Waiting at the stations or lounges, changing buses or rushing for catching the last ferry; these are frequently considered as a burden. When the possibility of delays are also taken into consideration, most travelers consider their trip is going to begin once they arrive in their destination.

The possible delays and waiting in the crowded waiting areas may not be the only setbacks of a journey. I have already written a post on the 6 most common travel problems that may ruin your trip. (Good news: I have also offered some great tips on how to handle them) In addition to these, a traveler has to find a way to beat the jet lag down if they are traveling between the time zones.

To cap it all, the most nerve racking of all the travel problems that has to be discussed is yet to come;

The annoying passengers you have to spend your hours together during your journey.

These disruptive people have the tendency to think they are traveling on their private jet and therefore can do whatever they feel like during the trip. No matter how hard it seems, there are ways for not letting them ruin your travel time.

All you have to do know the type of the annoying passengers and read about the possible things you can do or the precautions you can take to minimize the trouble caused by these travelers.

The Talker

After waiting for hours that seemed like ages, it is finally the time for your boarding. All you want is to put your cabin baggage on its place, sit on your seat and relax, maybe even to take a short nap right away. But wait? The person sitting right next you has probably not talked for the last month and has got so much to tell; has got so much to tell you.

The Solution

Don’t worry about being too bold to say you need to relax and rest. If you don’t say it right away, then it may harder to say when you seat pal is already talking about their distance relative occupation. In addition, you can also mention you are on a business trip and you better spend the trip with resting as much as you can because you have a meeting right after the landing. It doesn’t necessarily be correct; don’t feel sorry for something that can save you the whole trip.

The Rear Seat Kicker

The one who cannot decide where to put his legs. We all know this one, don’t we? The moment you are soaked up in your book or in the most exciting part of the movie you are watching, you are disturbed with a kick on your seat.

The Solution

Most probably the person sitting behind you is not aware of what she/he has been doing. Or let’s assume they have no idea how disturbing it is. Rather than throwing angry looks to that direction, just make sure the action is not intended to disturb you and tell them you cannot concentrate on what you are doing or cannot fall into sleep because of the constant moves of their feet and legs.

Inattentive Parents

Okay, this one needs more attention. I am not talking about a nonstop crying baby here. What I describe as a problem here are the parents who try to decide whether to have chicken of beef as lunch on the plane while their baby or toddles is crying or screaming their lungs out.

The Solution

This may not be something you favor, however trying to talk with the toddler may actually turn out to be a good way to solve the problem. This way, you are going to give the message to the parents that you are doing what they have to be doing.

The Crying Infant

Though it hurts to refer a baby that cries because of a certain problem he/she experiencing as an “annoying problem”, this is the most common thing that may ruin a long part of your journey. One must have to remind himself/herself that babies cry and sometimes there may literary be nothing to make them stop. Throwing snide looks to the parents will only make them feel even worse when they are already feeling desperate.

The Solution

For this one, you have to be prepared in advance. The parents with infants will probably go for the seats on the front rows of the middle seats, since most of the planes have got a special place for the baby carriages there. What you have to make sure is you pre check in for a seat that is the furthest from that section on the plane. The second solution is to keep some good quality, absolutely sound proof ear buds /headphones.

The Boozer

It has only been an hour since your plane took off but your seatmate has already ordered his/her third glass of wine. If his/her behavior become worrying or distractive, then you may have a problem. In addition, you may not feel comfortable with falling asleep next to someone who drinks as if it were their 21^st birthday.

The Solution

First you have to make sure the person’s drinking affects you. Talking to the person about their alcohol consumption with them may not be the smartest thing to do; because you are not their parents or friends. Rather than that, go the bathroom or the mobile kitchen area where you can talk to a flight attendant. Tell them about your problem, they can whether warn the passenger or reseat you to somewhere else.

Audio Insensitive

You know the buzzing sentences or tunes that comes out of the headphones of your seat mate when you are trying hard to concentrate and not to read the same sentence three times in your book, don’t you? Once you hear it, it is almost impossible to let it go; unless they turn it down a bit or completely turn their device off. Is it easy to convince them they are too loud? Probably not.

The Solution

Usually, it is not the person who listens to music too loud or cannot hear a normal decibel of sound; the problem is usually the headphones they are using. You can suggest them to use the headphones provided by the airline after explaining your discomfort nicely. If they don’t agree, you have to use your soundproof headphones which also saved you from the crying baby.

Seat Recliner

This type of passenger has taken the airlines’ classic motto, “feels like home” too seriously. They don’t let you know about they’ll put their seat back a bit so you usually end up with having some of your drink spilled on your lap. Or you have to spend the 7 hours journey spreading your knees in order not to be squashed.

The Solution

That’d be so nice if all the passengers in the world would agree on, “this is my seat and I have every right to recline it as much as it can.” is just a valid excuse if you are third grader. Since we are not living in an ideal world, you have to let the person know about your discomfort. If you don’t want to start a tense conversation, watch for the time when he/she leaves her seat and nudge the seat back up a little; that’ll give the message.

Main Image Credit: 18378305@N00