3:22 PM ET, November 22, 2023
It starts with the welcome: Here are etiquette tips for a smoother trip this Thanksgiving
From CNN's Marnie Hunter
Travelers move their luggage toward the Spirit Airlines check-in desk at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Nov. 21, in Houston.
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle/Getty Images
The planes will be packed. Patience will be tried. Some level of aggravation is inevitable. Add to that a drunk stranger and a barefoot person in November, and a Thanksgiving trip becomes a bit more challenging.
This year is expected to set a record for air travel. The Transportation Security Administration expects to screen more people on the Sunday following the holiday (Nov. 26) than any day in its more than 20-year history, and some airlines are predicting it will be their busiest Thanksgiving travel season ever.
It would go a lot smoother if every passenger brought some common courtesy to the flight, so CNN Travel spoke with experts about the best approaches to plane etiquette.
The missing element, in many cases, is self-awareness. People tend to get busy with their own flight and forget that there are a large number of other passengers.
“It's always mind-blowing to see that because it's my bag, my overhead bin, my seat, my flight, my connections, and, you know, my drink, and it's who I am when it comes to just how people behave on the plane.
“There seem to be hundreds of you,” said Rich Henderson, who was a flight attendant for a decade. “You have to be aware of your surroundings, and you have to respect the people around you.”
Starts with “hello”
Be polite to the cabin crew who greet you. “It goes a long way when you're nice to the first person you see on a plane,” says Diane Gottesman, etiquette expert and owner of The Protocol School in Texas.
Andrew Henderson, a flight attendant with 20 years of experience, confirms this idea.
“Hello” or “thank you” or acknowledging our presence is polite. I think that's some of the etiquette we're losing these days with all the headphones and noise-canceling devices we use. Andrew Henderson said: “We're all so busy that we forget there's humans in the world.”
He is married to Rich Henderson and together they run the website and social media accounts “Two Guys on a Plane,” where “sarcasm is free.”
Read more about proper flying etiquette
