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Chapter 26
TRAVELING ON AN AIRPLANE
Maybe you have taken a lot of airplane trips, or maybe a flight is yet in your future. Maybe you usually fly with your parents or with other adults, or maybe you’re facing the challenge of traveling by yourself.
Traveling on an airplane is exciting, no matter how many trips you’ve taken before. No matter how excited you are about taking the trip or reaching your destination, the rules for being a gentleman still apply. They may even be more important on an airplane, where you are in a small space with a lot of people, or in an airport, where there are even more people—all of them in just as big a hurry as you are.
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YOU DO
Follow the instructions of the security personnel in the airport, and pay attention to the flight attendants on the plane.
YOU DON’T
Make jokes about bombs or explosions or plane crashes. And you don’t complain about having to take off your shoes, and your belt, and your jacket, and your cap before you go through the security checkpoint. The people at the security checkpoint didn’t make the rules, so complaining to them will only make you seem childish. What’s more, it won’t do any good, and it will just slow down the process and make it take even longer for you to start your vacation.
Why
There’s nothing funny about a bomb or a plane crash, and you should realize that there are serious penalties for joking about bombs in airports.
YOU DO
Respect the people sitting near you. If you talk, keep your voice down. If you want to talk to a friend seated in one of the rows in front of you, don’t shout. In most cases, it will be best to hold off on that type of conversation until the plane has arrived at the airport.
YOU DON’T
Play your music or your video games or watch a DVD without using your headphones.
Why
The people near you may be trying to read, rest, or get some work done. Flying also makes some people nervous. Loud talking or loud noises may only make them more uneasy.
When traveling on a plane, a gentleman does not kick or bump the seat in front of him.
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A gentleman says, “Excuse me,” when he must slip past the passengers seated next to him in order to leave his seat, even if one of those passengers is his brother or his sister.
A gentleman does not throw his candy wrappers or other trash on the floor of the airplane. When a flight attendant comes down the aisle with a trash bag, he tosses his candy wrappers, soda cups, and old magazines into the bag.
Unless he needs to use the restroom, a gentleman stays in his seat, with his seatbelt buckled. He stays out of the aisle.