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> http://online.wsj.com/article/the_middle_seat.html
>
>
> THE MIDDLE SEAT
> By SCOTT MCCARTNEY
>
> Flying Foul: Passengers Behaving Badly
>
> Rude Neighbors, Messes Left In Seat Pockets Proliferate; Exploring the
> Revenge Motive
>
> May 6, 2008; Page D1
>
> You'll never look at, or reach into, an airline seat-back pocket the same
> after reading
> this.
>
> Besides being a repository for magazines, newspapers, books, iPods and
> air-sickness bags,
> seatback pockets get stuffed with all kinds of disgusting trash, from
> toenail clippings to
> mushy meals.
>
>
> WSJ's Reda Charafeddine asks people in the street about airplane
> etiquette.
>
> People do things on airplanes that they would never do in other public
> settings. They
> pluck eyebrows, polish nails and pick noses. They stick chewed gum in
> places only other
> passengers will discover. They blow noses into blankets that get folded up
> for the next
> weary traveler. They prop bare feet up on bulkheads and seats. Sometimes
> they even engage
> in . acts.
>
> One reason frequent fliers and flight attendants perceive an increase in
> offensive
> behavior may be the decline in air service - customers seek retaliation
> for late flights,
> snippy workers, lost baggage and unavailable upgrades.
>
> "Increasingly, passengers are certain that the airlines are not on their
> side and actually
> don't care anything about them," said Irwin Sarason, a University of
> Washington
> psychologist in Seattle who has studied passenger behavior. "In that kind
> of environment,
> it isn't too surprising that people will not exercise the restraints they
> normally would."
>
> Though crammed together elbow-to-elbow in more-public conditions than
> you'd find at a
> shopping mall, restaurant, church or office, airline passengers sometimes
> behave as though
> the cabin were their own small nesting place - and one where they never
> have to worry
> about cleanliness, either.
>
> Steve Cuzzone, finance director for a Birmingham, Ala., manufacturer, has
> found old french
> fries, a festering baby diaper, half a hamburger, used Kleenex and wet
> napkins in
> seat-back pockets. He put a book in once and pulled it out to find the
> bottom covered in a
> melted candy bar.
>
> "If you sit in a middle seat, never look in -- those are the riskiest
> ones," he said,
> noting that children often sit between parents and that passengers will
> dispose of their
> grossest things in an unoccupied middle seat.
>
> Patrick Kerr, who like Mr. Cuzzone participated in a FlyerTalk.com online
> discussion among
> frequent travelers of disgusting things people do aboard airplanes, was
> flying from Reno,
> Nev., to Dallas when a nearby passenger put a wad of chewing tobacco in
> his mouth and spit
> juice into a plastic cup throughout the flight.
>
> As passengers left the plane, Mr. Kerr, a technology manager in St. Louis,
> said, the man
> made one last deposit then tucked the cup deep into the seat pocket.
>
> "I said, 'Hey, you left that.' And he said, 'It's OK. They'll get it,' "
> said Mr. Kerr,
> who then alerted a flight attendant.
>
> Flight attendants often say that the biggest messes they have to deal with
> are dirty
> diapers left in seat-back pockets or worse, handed to them while they are
> serving
> beverages and snacks. "Would you hand that off to your server at a
> restaurant?" said Corey
> Caldwell, a spokeswoman for the Association of Flight Attendants, a union
> representing
> workers at several big airlines. "It's amazing how people treat the inside
> of aircraft
> cabins as opposed to other public spaces."
>
> The detritus problem is exacerbated by the fact that most airplanes are
> only lightly
> cleaned between each flight. Airlines say planes get a more thorough
> cleaning overnight
> and a "deep cleaning" scheduled about every 30 days. In many cases,
> seat-back pockets
> aren't thoroughly checked until overnight cleaning crews work over a
> cabin. "Flight
> attendants will clean things they see sticking out of seat pockets in
> between flights, but
> the deep-down cleaning is reserved for later," says Philip Gee, a US
> Airways Group Inc.
> spokesman. At several airlines, including Southwest Airlines Co., flight
> attendants handle
> most of the cleanup between flights. AMR Corp.'s American Airlines and UAL
> Corp.'s United
> Airlines have cleaning crews pick up trash, fold blankets and replenish
> supplies between
> flights. United says its crews brush off seats and replace headsets, too,
> between flights.
>
> Eric Kaldenberg, a Phoenix regional sales manager, was on a flight home
> from Las Vegas in
> March with a passionate couple in first class who were anything but
> discreet.
>
> "It was pretty disgusting," Mr. Kaldenberg said. He says he and other
> first-class
> passengers complained to flight attendants, but no action was taken. He
> wrote to US
> Airways, which offered a form-letter apology and voucher for a discount on
> a future
> ticket, along with a suggestion that he could have asked to be reseated if
> the couple
> bothered him. "I regret your discomfort when observing inappropriate
> behavior of another
> passenger," US Airways' Customer Relations office said in the letter. His
> second complaint
> drew an apologetic phone call from a customer-service supervisor, he says.
> US Airways' Mr.
> Gee says the suggestion that Mr. Kaldenberg should be reseated "probably
> wasn't the
> correct response." The flight attendant involved "should have talked to
> the couple," he
> said.
>
> While some people are testing boundaries or acting out when away from
> spouses, friends or
> seemingly any authority, experts say that for others, air travel leaves
> people
> psychologically off-kilter and more likely to do things they wouldn't
> normally do. Some
> lose control because the flying experience strips them of all control --
> you're told where
> to sit, when to sit and when you will arrive.
>
> In addition, many people have difficulty being stuffed in close proximity
> with others and
> forced to share space, whether it's overhead bin space, armrests or space
> taken away when
> the person in front reclines. As planes get more crowded, people get more
> cramped. The
> decline in air service likely has also exacerbated the problem. Some
> people are simply mad
> at airlines and seek retribution.
>
> "Putting a melting chocolate bar in a seatback is a way of punishing the
> airline for
> shoddy treatment," said Robert Bor, a clinical aviation psychologist in
> London.
>
> What's more, air travel is largely anonymous and, removed from everyday
> reality, people
> perceive few consequences to bad behavior. Just the opposite is true:
> Federal law requires
> that travelers complywith crew instructions, and penalties for disruptive
> behavior aboard
> airplanes can be harsh.
>
> Adding to the dehumanizing of travel is the advent of kiosks, self-service
> check-in and
> other money-saving automations. With little interaction with airline
> employees, some of
> whom may be grumpy and surly anyway, customers have little emotional
> connection to
> airlines, so why worry about trashing their airplanes?
>
> "Some rather enjoy offending others," Dr. Bor said.
>
> Write to Scott McCartney at middleseat@wsj.com4
>
> =====
> It sounds much better in French, but then, everything does.
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