Travel Kindly The reference for travel etiquette · Est. 2006
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The Guide

The rules, by where you are.

The Guide is how travelers treat one another at every step of the journey. Every rule comes with its reason, and with where the world has landed on it.

Kept since 2006. It grows as travelers find kinder ways to go.

The Travel Kindly Code
Make room. Space, time, and quiet are shared. Take your share and leave the rest.
Assume everyone has had a long day. The crew, the gate agent, and the person in seat 22B.
Ask before you act. A question takes three seconds and prevents most of what ends up on the news.
Keep your promises to strangers. Board with your group, sit in your seat, and stay on your side of the armrest.
Be the one who says thank you. Out loud, and by name if you can read the name tag.
Stage 01

Before you go

Most of what goes wrong on a flight was decided while packing.

  1. 01

    Pack a carry-on you can lift into the overhead bin by yourself. If you cannot, check it. The person behind you in the aisle is not there to lift it for you.

  2. 02

    Bring one bag for the overhead bin and one small bag for under the seat in front of you. Decide which is which at home, not in the aisle.

  3. 03

    If sitting together matters, pay to choose your seats when you book. A family that bought the cheapest fare and got split up is not entitled to a stranger’s aisle seat.

  4. 04

    Read what your fare includes before you get to the airport. Most arguments at the gate start with someone discovering what a basic fare does not include.

  5. 05

    If you need a second seat, book it in advance. Sorting out a refund is easier at a desk than at a gate.

  6. 06

    Bring headphones. Four out of five travelers say watching or listening without them is unacceptable, and every rule about sound on board begins with this one.

  7. 07

    Eat the strong-smelling food before you board. A cabin shares its air, and most of the people in it would rather not share your lunch.

Stage 02

At the airport

A terminal is a shared hallway with ten thousand people in it.

  1. 01

    Empty your pockets while you are in line, not when you reach the belt. The security bin is not the place to start looking for your keys.

  2. 02

    Stand on the right side of the moving walkway. The left side is for people walking to make a connection.

  3. 03

    Charging outlets are shared. Charge one device, then step aside for the next person.

  4. 04

    Save the speakerphone for the car. At the gate, everyone hears both sides of your call.

  5. 05

    The gate agent did not cancel your flight. Ask what they can do for you, not why it happened.

  6. 06

    Stop at two drinks before a flight. Ryanair asked Europe’s airports to make that a rule; you can make it your own for free.

Stage 03

Boarding

The boarding line works when everyone waits their turn.

  1. 01

    Board with your group, and stay out of the boarding lane until your group is called. Crowding the podium early has a nickname now, and it is not a flattering one.

  2. 02

    Use the overhead bin above your own seat. Put your bag in wheels first, handle out, and on its side if the airline asks. A bin packed with care holds a third more bags than a bin packed in a hurry.

  3. 03

    Put one bag overhead and your personal item under the seat in front of you, every time. A purse or jacket in the bin means someone boarding after you has to check their suitcase. Bulkhead rows, which have no seat in front, are the exception.

  4. 04

    The bin above row 8 is for the people in row 8. If you are in row 30 and fill it on your way past, their bag goes to the hold and everyone waits longer to get off.

  5. 05

    Sit in the seat on your boarding pass. If you would like a different one, ask a flight attendant after the door closes, when every seat is accounted for.

  6. 06

    Step into your row so the aisle keeps moving. Taking off your coat, finding your charger, and looking for your book can all happen once you are seated.

  7. 07

    A seat swap is a favor, not a right. Ask politely, offer a seat as good as or better than the one you want, and accept the first no. Nobody is obliged to trade for a worse seat.

Stage 04

In the air

Your seat is about eighteen inches wide. Everything around it is shared.

  1. 01

    The middle seat gets both armrests. The aisle passenger can lean into the aisle and the window passenger can lean into the wall. The middle passenger has nowhere to go, so the two armrests are theirs.

  2. 02

    The armrest marks the edge of your space. Nothing of yours crosses it: not an elbow, not a knee, not a bag strap. Sitting with your knees spread into the next seat is the same offense as an elbow, and it happens more often.

  3. 03

    Recline slowly, and look behind you first. Most travelers do not mind the recline itself; they mind the surprise. If there is a laptop on the tray table behind you, you are about to slam it shut.

  4. 04

    On a short daytime flight, a little recline is plenty. On an overnight flight, recline and expect the person in front of you to do the same.

  5. 05

    Use headphones for anything that makes sound. There is no volume low enough for a stranger’s video, and no rule in this Guide has wider agreement.

  6. 06

    The window seat controls the shade, on behalf of the whole row. When most of the cabin has lowered their shades to watch screens, lower yours too. When there is something worth seeing out the window, ask your row before you raise it.

  7. 07

    Keep your shoes on in the aisle and in the lavatory. At your own seat, socks are the minimum, and your feet stay on your own patch of floor.

  8. 08

    If you need to get out, wake your seatmate rather than climbing over them. Most people say they would rather be woken.

  9. 09

    The call button is there to be used. Press it once, for a drink or a question, and then wait. The crew heard it.

  10. 10

    Chat with your seatmate only if they chat back. Most people prefer a few pleasantries and then quiet. Headphones in and a book open is a polite way to say so.

  11. 11

    Take your trash with you when you leave. The seatback pocket is not a trash can, and the next passenger will find whatever you left in it.

  12. 12

    When a flight attendant gives an instruction, follow it. If you disagree, make your case after landing, in writing.

  13. 13

    Thank the crew by name on your way out. Their name tags are right there.

Stage 05

On arrival

Nobody has ever left an aircraft faster by standing up first.

  1. 01

    Stay seated until the seatbelt sign goes off. Then stand up when the row two ahead of you starts to leave. That is your cue, and it keeps the aisle moving instead of packed.

  2. 02

    The plane empties from the front, one row at a time. Two thirds of Americans say so, and the other third is the reason the rule needs saying.

  3. 03

    Open the bin above your own row, not the one three rows ahead that you filled on the way in.

  4. 04

    A tight connection is a reason to ask, not to push past people. Tell the crew before landing; they will often make an announcement asking others to let you through.

  5. 05

    Let the person with the stroller, the wheelchair, or the three children go ahead of you. It costs you about forty seconds.

  6. 06

    Do not stop on the jet bridge to open your bag. The top of the escalator is not the place either.

  7. 07

    At baggage claim, stand back from the carousel until you see your bag. Everyone can see the belt when nobody is standing against it.

Stage 06

At the hotel

A hotel corridor at midnight carries sound the way an airplane cabin does.

  1. 01

    Hallway voices carry after ten at night. So do doors that slam on their own, so catch yours.

  2. 02

    Housekeeping is a person. If you tip, leave it each morning on the pillow, because the person who cleaned your room on Tuesday may not be the one there on Friday.

  3. 03

    A pool chair you reserved with a towel at seven in the morning is not yours at eleven.

  4. 04

    The small toiletry bottles are yours to take. The towels, hangers, and robe are not.

  5. 05

    The front desk cannot move the wedding reception. Ask for a room on a different floor, and thank them when they find one.

  6. 06

    The breakfast buffet is shared. Take what you will eat, and go back for more if you want it.

  7. 07

    Check out on time. Someone else is checking into your room at three.

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