Standing on the tarmac in pelting rain, cramming a week’s worth of outfits into Ryanair-appropriate hand luggage, jostling with ‘aisle lice’ to disembark…
Travelling the world is a privilege, but it’s not without stress. And that’s before you are faced with the overcrowded beaches, museums and bars that are par for the course in popular tourist hotspots.
All of this can bring out the worst in people, and cause some controversial habits to rear their heads.
From queuing to board before the gate opens, to reclining the seat on short-haul flights, people have been owning up to the eyebrow-raising behaviour they engage in when travelling…
Refusing to give up a seat
If you’re flying with an airline that asks you to pay to choose your seat, you might decide to wait and see if a kind stranger will swap with you on the day.
But after one Reddit user shared their experience, it might be worth thinking again.
In the popular sub r/unitedairlines, a user called psychological_Nose_2 revealed that agreeing to swap with a passenger who gave them the wrong seat number left them sitting in the middle seat, following a confrontation with another disgruntled passenger.
In response to the story, Metro‘s Reddit followers were quick to share why they would refuse to swap seats if asked.
InstructionBulky4314 wrote: ‘I would avoid swapping seats I think. I usually pay to pick my seat for reason and would rather avoid any drama or hassle. Thankfully I’ve never been asked!!’
Striking_Hedgehog_21 simply said: ‘Hell no. You get what you pay for.’
And that goes for train travel too.
Metro Soaps Editor Duncan Lindsay says: ‘I would kick someone out of my train seat if they were in it.’
More Metro hot takes
The wider Metro team have been sharing the controversial things they do while travelling.
Senior Commerce Writer Lydia Wheatley said: ‘I always hide a few liquids in my makeup bag if I’m travelling with hand luggage. Concealer and eyeliner don’t count IMO… neither does cleansing balm or lip gloss.’
Deputy Picture Editor Rosy Shearman shared: ‘I have friends that are a couple and they will not travel together on the same flight when going on holiday. They have kids and everything. They have such different approaches to travel that they will actually take separate flights.’
And Acting Lifestyle Editor Kristina Beanland added: ‘I try to get the direct phone number of a specific taxi driver — either from a friend that’s visited before or I ask if they have a card. It’s like having your own private driver on speed dial…’
Reclining the plane seat
To recline or not to recline: that is the age-old travel question.
Every chair has a button to recline it, and every passenger has a right to use it — so why does it feel so wrong?
Reddit user Ok_Sir_3090 shared in r/NoStupidQuestions: ‘I’ve been on three flights in the last year and have reclined my seat on all flights.
‘I have had comments from people behind me on all three fights.
‘I’d consider myself a nice person, I didn’t argue with them, I just explained it was a 5-hour flight and I’d like to be comfy and I didn’t know it was an issue.
‘Do people normally not recline their seats to give others more room? I thought everyone reclined their seats’.
Should you be able to recline your seat?
This subject made it back into headlines in recent months, after a viral TikTok hack for preventing other passengers from reclining their seats went viral.
Clare Duggan demonstrated how she puts her tray table down and wedges a Pringles tube on top of it, effectively blocking the person in front from adjusting their seat.
Some users branded it ‘ridiculous’ and ‘pathetic’, while others praised Clare for the idea and called it ‘genius’.
Users were quick to share their frustration with reclining seats in the replies.
Inner_Proof4540 said: ‘I don’t even know why reclining is an option on flights that are that close person to person’, while ErrantJune commented: ‘It’s fairly difficult to sleep with someone else’s chair crushing your knees, too.’
Key_Ingenuity_5446 added: ‘I’m about 6ft6 and when someone reclines their seat in front of me, it literally crushes my knees.
‘They will feel my kneecaps stabbing their backs. Usually they complain to the staff about me kicking their seat.’
Skipping iconic tourist attractions
Paris has the Eiffel Tower, Dublin has wildly overpriced pints in Temple Bar, New York has Times Square — these are all places tourists travel thousands of miles to see, right?
Not always. Plenty of people actively avoid these ‘tourist traps’ on their trips.
On Reddit, Laughternotwar wrote: ‘I never visit the tourist attractions, those are usually crowded and a low-quality experience.’
ReliabilityTalkinGuy echoed: ‘I have little interest in tourist attractions, excluding extremely old castles/churches,’ while ofcourseIwantpickles said: ‘I’ve skipped waaaay more museums and sites of worship than I’ve seen. Traveling without FOMO is liberating.’
Meanwhile, Metro’s Entertainment Editor Lucy Mapstone flat out refuses to go to restaurants in touristy areas.
‘I’ll never eat in a ‘tourist trap’ place,’ she says. ‘If there are pics on the menus outside in the main square of a town/city, and the staff are trying to lure you in, I actively avoid it like the plague.’
Queuing to board before the gate opens
‘Gate lice’ (aka people who crowd around the gate before their boarding group has been called) have long been controversial.
So much so that American Airlines announced plans to tackle gate lice last October by using new technology to detect if a passenger has tried to queue too early.
But people who are eager to get on board have their reasons.
Silver_medalist said: ‘If get on near to last there can often be no room to store your luggage and it can end up squashed into a random overhead bin by a steward miles away from your seat.’
UnicornMilkyy echoed: ‘You could end up in a situation where they run out of space above for your 10kg or have to put it down the other side of the plane’.
Others said they queue to ward off travel anxiety and stretch their legs before a long period of sitting down.
Paying extra for a checked bag
There is something that can prevent travellers from anxiously queuing to board the plane first — buying a checked bag.
But instead, people are turning to extreme packing hacks to avoid baggage fees.
From buying a travel pillow for extra storage to hiding items in duty-free bags, there’s a range of TikTok luggage tips that promise to help travellers pack for a flight with no baggage allowance.
It means that forking out for an extra bag has become somewhat controversial — but some travellers still do it.
Reddit user katie-kaboom said: ‘It’s totally fine to check a bag. You don’t win anything if you can make it for a month with a single change of underwear and your phone cable.’
Educational-Adagio96 added: ‘Checking your bag is great and makes waiting in the airport a delight…I will never stress about space in the overhead bin again.’
Which airline has the best baggage policy?
Metro has dived into the details of all the major airlines to reveal which airline has the best baggage policy.
Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways came out on top, all offering one free personal item and one free cabin bag, plus a free checked bag on their cheapest fares with most routes.
Of the budget airlines, Jet2 takes the crown.
The British airline allows both a personal item and one piece of carry-on luggage for free, as long as it doesn’t exceed 10kg and is no bigger than 56cm x 45cm x 25cm.
Standing up as soon as the plane lands
We’ve already covered gate lice, but what about ‘aisle lice’?
This nickname has been given to plane passengers who get up and queue down the plane as soon as it lands — a behaviour that divides opinion.
Venting their frustrations on the r/Delta subreddit, a user calling themselves Lawngisland described being surrounded by impatient passengers with little regard for both ‘personal space and order’ on a recent flight.
The experience prompted heated discussion, and when we asked Metro readers what they thought of aisle lice, it caused quite a stir.
Penny Motley said: ‘As someone who has to wait for assistance, I find these people hilarious,’ and Pat Thomas added, ‘Waste of time, [they’ve] got to wait for the luggage anyway’.
An airline’s verdict on ‘aisle lice’
Metro spoke to Gísli S. Brynjólfsson, director of global marketing and travel expert at Icelandair.
He said: ‘The term ‘aisle lice’ might be catchy, but let’s be honest, it’s not the kindest way to describe passengers who jump up the moment the plane lands. We get it — after being sat in a seat for hours, the urge to stand and stretch is real. And for some, whether it’s a tight connection, nerves, or just habit, getting ready to go feels like a small victory.
‘That said, crowding the aisle doesn’t speed things up, and it can make deplaning more chaotic than it needs to be. A little patience, awareness, and respect for fellow passengers and crew go a long way. At the end of the day, we’re all in the same boat — well, plane — and a smooth, stress-free exit is what everyone wants.’
However, others were more sympathetic, and shared their personal reasons for standing as soon as the plane lands.
Stephen Pearce explained: ‘People stand up because they’ve been sitting for hours in an uncomfortable seat that has barely any padding. It’s not because they expect to disembark any faster. Why do people get so triggered by this?’
And Keith Stafford echoed: ‘It’s called people wanting to stretch after being crammed in by greedy airlines for hours.’
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