‘The headphone habit that makes you the worst passenger on the plane’

MUSIC is probably one of the best ways for passengers to keep themselves entertained during flights – but the etiquette for listening to it is something a lot of people really don’t understand.

I’ve already touched upon arrogant passengers who listen to their music without headphones – which is the absolute worst behaviour.

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However, it’s becoming more and more of a problem – especially during the summer months when we have more groups heading away on their holidays.

So, in my latest blog for Sun Online Travel, I’ll shine more of a light on these people, all of whom have a staggering lack of awareness, so they can realise how their behaviour is annoying everyone.

I’ve lost count of how many people I’ve had to ask to turn their music down or off this year alone, and it’s only early June.

We get into arguments with these people all the time and they act like we’re the fun police, rather than the rational people in this situation.

It’s pretty bewildering how many people accuse us of “ruining their holiday”, while at the very same time, they’re irritating pretty much everyone else on board.

Your stag/hen/birthday party might be fun for you, but we’re not celebrating it with you, nor do we wish to be.

Our main aim as cabin crew is to keep you safe and make sure you arrive at your destination safely.

We don’t want to listen to your music, we want to listen to passengers’ requests, which coincidentally often involve us demanding that you turn your music down or off.

We understand that you’re excited, we understand that you’re impatient about the start of your holiday, but you also have to understand that no one else cares.

Not everyone is on that flight for the same reason – some people could be heading to funerals, or home for family emergencies.

Do you think they want to listen to Freed From Desire eight times in a row? No one should want to listen to that song eight times in a row, ever and it’s certainly not welcome in our cabin.

I say all this knowing that it’s all just common sense, yet you’d be shocked at how uncommon that is among passengers nowadays.

Phones and Spotify mean everyone has a personal soundsystem in their pocket, yet some mindless people choose to de-personalise the experience by playing their music out loud.

The worst thing about it is how intimidating people like that can be for other passengers.

We have all sorts of people on board our planes, some anxious about the flight, some with conditions where excessive noise makes them feel anxious or uncomfortable.

It’s really not fair for you to make things so much worse for them, just because you can’t wait two hours until your reach wherever it is you’re going.

Sadly, it’s not just party-goers who do this either, it’s people in business and first class, who assume that they can get away with it because they’ve paid more for their ticket.

Everyone else in those cabins has also paid more and will expect you to be quiet. So cut it out.

We literally hand out headphones at the start of the flight, and most people bring their own with them too, so please, for everyone’s sake, keep your music to yourself, or don’t listen to it at all.

It seems a simple enough request, yet I know other flight attendants who absolutely hate their job this time of year because of the increase in people behaving like our plane is a bar.

By all means, have a laugh and enjoy your flight with your friends, but also think about how unfair you’re being on everyone else on board.

Meanwhile, this passenger was branded “rude” for their choice of meal on board a plane.

And this passenger was slammed for eating smelly eggs while waiting for a flight.

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