When you travel, there are certain acts of etiquette most people take part in. You wait your turn in the bathroom queue (but if you really have to go, it’s OK to ask if you can go ahead of people. It may or may not work). You go on the plane when your group is called. The middle seat gets both arm rests (them’s the rules! LOLOL!).
But the other day, I discovered a story about a woman complaining about a fellow passenger “cutting the line,” and I don’t think it should have been considered a problem.
Miss Manners, penned by Judith Martin, has been running in over 200 newspapers across the country since 1978. Much like Dear Abby, Ask Amy, etc, she answers readers’ questions/problems with her own brand of sage advice. However, unlike Dear Abby and Ask Amy, her specialty is etiquette and manners. So Miss Manners will answer questions about chatty plane passengers who talk over the stranger sitting next to them, lane hogs at a hotel swimming pool, etc.
A couple of months ago, Miss Manners posted a letter she got from a person who had been yelled at for cutting the line at the airport:
Miss Manners: I was scolded for cutting the line at the airport
There were travelers behind me. I grabbed an empty bin, walked around her and began filling it. She completed loading her bin and brought it around in front of me, immediately in front of the scanner to run through. I would not have noted any of this except that, as we picked up our bins post-scanner, the traveler turned to me and noted that I had rudely cut in front. With several additional critical comments, she got her displeasure off her chest.
I had several responses in mind, but simply wished her safe travels. I have had a bit of esprit de l’escalier, but also some reflection. Who, in your opinion, was the impolite party? For my part, I think this traveler committed two etiquette gaffes, but I have certainly been wrong before.
Even had she not known how you (politely and correctly) resolved the situation, Miss Manners would have concluded — from your charging that person with only two rudenesses — that you value civil coexistence. She thanks you for that rare restraint.
In your place, your fellow traveler, who is evidently stockpiling indignities, would no doubt have filed separate charges for each specific insult — without waiting to think of them on the staircase. A polite traveler who needed extra time to hoist everything up onto the belt should simultaneously, and explicitly, invite those in line behind to proceed.
Our take on this
I am 100% with Miss Manners on this one. If you’re particularly slow at doing something and there’s a line behind you, you let people go ahead of you. I do that all the time—walking up stairs or incline, I tend to slow down so I don’t lose my breath so quickly (I have exercise-induced asthma). I always tell people to go ahead of me, “…cuz I’m slow.”
When Joe and I were flying out of MCO’s Terminal C a couple of months ago, there was a young family in front of us on the PreCheck lane. It was the 2 parents and 4 boys. The oldest was maybe 5 or 6. The twins were toddlers – 2ish? And the baby was less than a year old. So they had 2 strollers to empty out, along with all their carry-on stuff, on top of the twins running around. It took them FOREVER to get through PreCheck. While they were getting ready to go through, all they had to do was say, “You go ahead.” They didn’t. But we just waited for them. Good thing we got to the airport early.
What do you think?
What do you think of the question Miss Manners answers – did they cut the line? Or was passenger #1 just a grump?
Feature Image: Port of Seattle
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7 comments
She is right – it is one thing to push ahead of people but there is absolutely no reason to wait on someone that is taking their sweet time provided there is space ahead of them. Also, helps those behind since they don’t have to wait as long. I do this all the time and so does every frequent traveler I know. This woman obviously wasn’t a frequent flyer and didn’t understand that the goal is as many people through security as quickly as possible. Also, he didn’t but her off or otherwise harm her since she would be waiting anyway for the flight. On a similar note I’m one of those people that stand up as soon as the plane is at the gate. I don’t push but stand there patiently (patiently is a stretch some times) with my items ready so I can move after the row in front of me goes. However, if someone is taking their time to get out or otherwise I get the indication they aren’t in a hurry I quickly move along (only row in front of me unless others are seated waiting for plane to empty (usually wheelchairs) or have a carry on in the back). This isn’t rude as it doesn’t hold anyone up and allows everyone to deplane more quickly. People need to get over their sense of entitlement to stand around and hold everyone up – the goal is collectively to get through as quickly as possible
I’m with you and MM. I’m certainly not so important that everyone should wait for me before proceeding about their business.
I recently noticed that at a few airports in Europe, they have “booths” where each person can load the bins at their own pace. The bins go through the scanner as you load them, so they’ll be out of sync with the passenger. But considering it takes time on the other side to re-pack anyway, I don’t think it mattered. It seemed to be an efficient process, at least to me. Since there are a lot of booths and a continuous stream of trays, no individual passenger feels rushed.
The long shelfs leading into the Xray machines exist, at least in part, so multiple people can load their trays at once. Seems to me it would have been polite of the first woman to move up a little and make room for someone else behind her.
I’ve realized over the years that enough people consider this “cutting the line” that I don’t do it anymore. I’ll always wait patiently for space at the end of the queue. Perhaps with an empty bin in hand to nudge the Pearson ahead of me to move up or offer to let me go ahead.
Some passengers believe they are entitled to all the time, space, and oxygen in the travel-sphere. Weather it be in the preboarding, onboard, baggage drop/retrieve, or taxi quque. Everywhere around the world I’ve seen it, heard it and yes smelled it. Heaven is the Silver Kris lounge, showering and having a meal while waiting for your next flight at Changi.
I agree the lady taking her time should have offered the others to go ahead of her, however if you are going to skip ahead of someone regardless of circumstance, at least politely let them know or ask. Something like, “I’m just going to scoot by you real quick”, or “I’m all ready to go, would you mind if I scoot by you?” No one likes airport security and no one likes line cutters at airport security. Maybe the lady taking her time wasn’t a frequent traveler. TSA is stressful enough without line cutters.
I treat this as “ready’ golf play. When your ready to hit go and ignore the furthest from.the hole rule. That way play moves on and does not hold up the group or groups behind.