- Most people say airplane manners are declining, and fellow passengers get the blame, not airlines or social media.
- Reclining divides travelers; 51% say it is fine with a heads-up, 21% recline anytime, and 10% say never.
- Armrest etiquette is unresolved; most favor sharing and few support middle seat priority. Window shades mostly belong to the window sitter.
- Deplaning should be orderly: 65% want front to back exits, with little tolerance for line cutting except for rare tight connections.
It seems like every other day, some post depicting bad plane behavior goes viral online — whether it's evangelists proselytizing to unwilling passengers, a child refusing to sit down for takeoff and forcing an entire flight to deplane, or the never-ending debate over who gets the armrest. If you feel like onboard manners are harder to come by, you're not alone — a new YouGov survey commissioned by The Points Guy found that 42 percent of people believe airplane etiquette has gone downhill, and a majority (52 percent) blame their fellow travelers for the decline. Just eight percent think airlines and policies are to blame for the misconduct, and another eight percent blame social media.
Some problems (like preaching on board) are pretty new, but some courtesy questions get brought up time and time again. So The Points Guy asked American adults to weigh in on some of the most pressing in-flight debates.
Top airplane etiquette questions, answered
Is it rude to recline your seat on an airplane?
The difficult thing about sharing a metal tube careening through the sky with hundreds of other people is that one person's given is another person's no-no. For instance, you might not think it's impolite to recline your seat — after all, why have the function if you can't use it? — but the question comes up time and time again. If you've had to sit completely upright for a long stretch of time, you know how uncomfortable it can be. But at the same time, if you've ever had the person in front of you practically lie with their head in your lap for hours to the point that you can't even open your tray table, you may be against reclining altogether.
So what's the consensus on putting those seats back? Fifty-one percent of respondents said it's fine to recline — as long as you give the person behind you a heads-up. Twenty-one percent are firm recliners and say you're good to lean any time after takeoff, and a small minority, just 10 percent, say it's never OK.
Who gets the armrests?
We thought it was common knowledge that whoever's in the middle seat gets to use both armrests. It makes sense from an equity standpoint: the person in the aisle gets the benefit of easy access and can stretch their legs more freely, while the window seat-sitter can rest their head against the window for smoother snoozing. The middle seat is the least desirable of all the options, so to offset its comparative lack of space, the person in that space gets to rest their elbows on both armrests. Right?
Not quite. Shockingly, only 11 percent of survey respondents agreed with this rationale. Twenty percent said the middle seat should get armrest priority, but ideally everyone should share. The majority, 31 percent, simply think everyone should share the armrests equally. That seems like a great idea in theory, but how does that work in practice? Each person takes 30-minute shifts? Both passengers occupy a sliver, bumping 'bows the whole way? We might have to go against the majority on this one.
Who gets control of the window shade?
You'd think this one would really be a no-brainer — what is the person in the aisle seat going to do, reach across two people to put the shade down? Apparently not: A small majority (51 percent) said whoever's sitting in the window seat is in charge of the covering, while 28 percent think it should be a collaborative approach among the members of the row. For people who think their fellow fliers are getting ruder, they sure do have a lot of faith in the power of compromise.
Is asking to switch seats on an airplane rude?
If you've spent any time on Reddit, you've likely seen no shortage of posts asking if a passenger was a jerk for not switching seats. Usually the scenarios involve a frazzled parent and a young child, but not always. Sometimes a couple wants to sit together, for example. All sorts of issues can come into play, like economic concerns (since buying seats together may cost more money) and logistical (choosing seats in different sections of the plane and banking on a friendly person to switch is not exactly proactive).
Not surprisingly, most people — 44 percent — don't think making the request is rude, though 34 percent consider it a faux pas.
How to deplane properly
The one thing most Americans did agree on? Deplaning. A whopping 65 percent believe it should be an orderly process, leaving row by row from front to back. Only 10 percent think it's permissible to cut the line if there's an opening, and just nine percent are cool with someone rushing ahead if they have to make a tight connection. We'd probably give a little more leeway to those with quick layovers, so long as people don't abuse the consideration.
