Traveling with rude passengers

[zen]

Unfortunately, it appears as if Indians are on the list of many ....

The average Indian traveller is perceived to be loud, aggressive and lacking in civic sense and invites hostility. We speak to frequent travellers to get the larger picture You board an international flight, smile at the thought of a relaxed, well-deserved break and close your eyes as you await take-off. Your peace is shattered in seconds, thanks to a bunch of loud, aggressive co-passengers. From fighting for space to stove their cabin luggage in the overhead compartment to asking for exchange of seats, they literally demand attention. There's no respite from the cacophony until you reach your destination. Sounds familiar? Indian tourists are perceived to be lacking in etiquette, so much so that several travel agencies hand out a list of dos and don'ts along with tour itineraries. Entrepreneur and frequent traveller Puja Sahney is not surprised. ŽÃ…ŽÂµhe behaviour of a section of Indian tourists has come in for criticism in Europe and South East Asia. I have visited Thailand at least seven times and with each visit, I notice how Thai nationals are increasingly hostile towards Indians. We have brought this on ourselves. It's embarrassing when a hotel manager tells you that it takes the house keeping staff 40 to 45 minutes to clean a room vacated by Indians as against 17-20 minutes for others. Agrees MNC employee Praveen Kumar and adds, ŽÃ…ŽÂª have seen fellow passengers steal airline cutlery and even tissues from washrooms. It's embarrassing to say the least. Calling out for the airline stewards instead of sounding the alarm provided shows us in bad light. Jumping the queue while waiting for the taxi, taking photographs of women on the beach, littering the streets and fussing over the food served are some of the common complaints. Tour operators also have to deal with the lack of punctuality. Avid traveller and owner of Travel Channel, Shalini Nakanna points out, ŽÃ…ŽÂµour operators are sticklers for time. On some occasions, I have seen European tour operators leaving behind a few Indian tourists and moving on with the tour. Knowing Indian tourists, South East Asian nations reluctantly wait during group tours. This apart, Puja feels that the lack of etiquette, to a certain extent, stems from the demographic profile of travellers. ŽÃ…ŽÂªt's cost effective to travel to South East Asian nations, Thailand and Malaysia in particular. For some travellers, it's their first international visit and they tend to take the open nature of society in these nations for granted, she says. The hostility towards Indians in massage parlours, for instance, explains this phenomenon. If the behaviour of some travellers is painting a dirty picture of Indian tourists as a whole, take heart. We are not alone. In a recent survey done in the US by the online business portal LivingSocial, Americans felt the US traveller tops the list of rude travellers and 20 per cent of respondents admitted to stealing towels in hotels. Nevertheless, a clean-up act remains high on priority list for the average Indian traveller. Clean up your act Talking loudly so as to announce your presence half a mile away is not cool. At a buffet table, respect the queue and await your turn. Do not eat standing near the buffet. Don't invite trouble by taking photographs of foreigners sunbathing on a beach. Don't litter the streets. Use recycle bins. Leave your hotel room and washroom in a tidy condition. Stealing towels and toiletries show Indian tourists in a deplorable condition. http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/travel/how-rude-are-we/article3393480.ece

I now fly quite often from San Francisco to Dubai. There are direct flights each way. Dubai is the main hub for Emirates Airlines, which makes it the connecting point for a lot of people flying to south Asia. The flights each way are often 80% to 90% south Asians, and the vast bulk of those are from Indian either those from India or non-native Indian-Americans flying to and from the mother country. There are a smattering of Pakistanis and Sri Lankans. Both exhibit quite different behaviours which are more acceptable to my western ideals. The flight to Dubai is EK 226, the one to SFO is EK 225. IŽÃƒŽÃ—e flown them about a dozen times in the past three years (yes, I am a gold-level frequent flyer). So I have observed Indians on crowded airplanes many, many times. No flight has been a real pleasure. Why? Indians make the worst flying companions. Bad behaviors to the extreme in variety and frequency. You think I am being racist or biased? No, I just see the same behaviours over and over again. Examples: Indian children are seldom under control and never admonnished for bothering others. They run up and down the aisles throughout the flights, often yelling and screaming in glee even during the midflight period of lowered lights when many people want to sleep. The parents act intentionally oblivious or it does not register in their minds that noisy, unruly kids on an airplane are not in good form. Indians are so used to a crowd of jostling people that they bump into you, step on your feet hard, and such things with nary an ŽÃ…ŽÃ†xcuse me or ŽÃ…ŽÂª a sorry? The world view is self-centerred and ignores others. Hindu Indians eat special vegetarian meals. They get served first and much earlier than most people. The cabin crew then starts serving all of the other passengers. When these Hindus finish their meals, unlike most non-Indian people who wait with food trays in front of them, invariably some Indians do two things. The more ŽÃ…ŽÃ‘olite ones get up with their full used trays and walk to hand them to the crew trying to feed the other passengers. The ŽÃ…ŽÃŠmpolite ones just put their trays in the aisle, as if it was outside of a hotel room, ignoring the fact that the crew needs that aisle to feed others and that others might want to walk to the restrooms. Indians who cannot sleep through the rest period will get up and congregate, talking loudly between themselves. This often is not just near the restrooms, but anywhere they feel like. They do not care that it is not in their seating area, they deserve the right to make noisy conversation in yours. Once again, if one bumps into you (aisle seats are terrible for this even if you lean away from the aisle) or step into your row and onto your feet, no apologies. Indians do not want to board by rows or deplane by them. Annoucements for business class/ first class/ high flyer miles passengers invariably means most of the passengers get up and crowd the gate area. Deplaning is more chaotic than most other trips. My last trip, upon landing in SFO, but before the aircraft was to the gate and the seatbelt sign went off, there were two announcements that there was a medical emergency and passengers should remain seated until the medical people came on board and removed the ill passenger. This made no difference. The plane pulled up to the gate, the seatbelt sign remained lit, but a horde of Indians crowded the aisle in a couple of seconds (that was so exasperating that I yell at the idiots in my section that they were told to sit because there was a medical emergency?the response was a couple dozen looks of uncomprehending pairs of sheep eyes. A fw things have been singular, so far, but reflect this unaware attitude. The woman who was boarding towards the end who did not find a space in the overhead bin saved for her seat and just stood there blocking others from getting to their seats and yelling about how her luggage space had been stolen. The guy who upon getting to his seat, the window inside of my aisle seat wanted to go to the restroom even while people were still boarding (Excuse me, Mr. Dumb Indian, but there are restrooms next to the waiting room and it is a 16-hour flight, are you going to do this a couple of dozen times?) Clueless, egocentric, rude to the maximum. http://fetzthechemist.wordpress.com/2012/04/08/a-plane-full-of-indians-behaving-badly/

Some comments from the above link:

DambullaDreams - October 31, 2012 I flew dozens of times between India and the US east coast during a multiple year assignment in BLR, via every major airline and different gateways in EMEA. The worst recurring matter for me is that I am a petite, youthful looking South Asian woman who often travels aloneËÂnd some Indians feel they can take advantage of this. When an Indian family clambers on board late and sits in seats that are split up in various rows (likely due to bad planning, not checking in online in advance, etc.), some clown from the clan invariably finds ME, sitting alone in my aisle seat and minding my own business, and asks me to move to a middle seat in the middle section, so that Å¢untie can sit next to her kin. Bad planning on your part doesnÃÕ constitute an emergency on my part. I just wonÃÕ move, even when they have the cajones to call a flight attendant as if I am the squatter! You canÃÕ make any of this up; and sadly, truth is stranger and more unpleasant than fiction.

Harris - October 27, 2012 Im a cabin crew? Indian, Arab and Mainland China passengers are the most unpleasant and not polite at from start from boarding until landing. Pain in the ass to be honest with you! Selfish! Dirty! And absolute stupid! And i am asian fyi God i dont understand how these people live in their country! No system! No sivic! Oh my god!!!!!!! And i just came back from Khunming flight and my stewardess cries at the galley!

Sadly, I have to agree with most of the above. :(( When I was in India, flying domestically mainly to Mumbai and Delhi was usually a good experience, but somehow the experience on international flights was not that great, esp. the flight with people flying from the US through Europe to India But Indians are probably not the only guilty party. I had similar experiences when flying to and from South Asia, for e.g. on an Air Canada flight from Tokyo to Toronto, one old South Asian guy was peeing with the bathroom open while many passengers were still in the process of boarding the plane :facepalm: The people from Mainland China and the Sub-con are probably perceived to be on the same "rudeness" level .... and here we are talking about the educated folks from these countries Anyone else think on similar lines or had such experiences or made such judgments Stories of rude staff (airline/hotel/etc) are also welcome

[punjabi_khota]

I once ran into a dumb desi settled in Canada on a flight. He was talking some BS stats and metrics to put Sachin down. Man I wish I had landed some punches.

[EnterTheVoid]

Try catching a flight with a passenger who couldn't stop farting his face off the whole time through. Just had the dubious honour of experiencing that firsthand.

[Nova]

Do Indians drink a lot on long flights, I mean liquor. Every time on international flights, there is a drunk desi....cartman! And then the arguments start. :headshake:

[jf1gp_1]

Do Indians drink a lot on long flights' date=' I mean liquor. Every time on international flights, there is a drunk desi....cartman! And then the arguments start. :headshake:

strange but i have never seen one of these arguments; one thing i just hate is how ppl crowd around the restrooms as if its the coolest place on a flight to hand around

[maniac]

More than rude passengers...some of the Airhostess in Air India are even ruder....Once the luggage above almost fell on my head and the airhostess aunty stared at me like it was my fault...if she had a cane she would have beaten the hell out of me If you ask for an extra drink they look at you as if you have asked a part of their own property lol

[zen]

More than rude passengers...some of the Airhostess in Air India are even ruder....Once the luggage above almost fell on my head and the airhostess aunty stared at me like it was my fault...if she had a cane she would have beaten the hell out of me If you ask for an extra drink they look at you as if you have asked a part of their own property lol

Talking about Air India / Indian Airlines, during the pre-flight safety demonstration on IA flight from BOM, I noticed that the life jacket was dirty like the inside of an unwashed shirt's collar. May be someone used to wear it :cantstop:

[Anonymous]

Nothing new. Our brethren have been making us proud for nearly two decades now and the legend continues with the onsite IT fob dudes. The concept of deodorant eludes a lot of people on long haul flights and our dudes dont even use talcum powder. I had the misfortune of sitting next to one such stud who after a few drinks decided that he would vent some of his rising testosterone levels by trying to squeeze an air hostess bum and he got an earful from her. Not content, he tried chatting up a german girl who was clearly too young. I got into an argument with him and it was an uncomfortable flight from thereon (not that it was any better before)

[KhanSaab]

I had the misfortune of sitting next to one such stud who after a few drinks decided that he would vent some of his rising testosterone levels by trying to squeeze an air hostess bum and he got an earful from her. Not content' date=' he tried chatting up a german girl who was clearly too young. I got into an argument with him and it was an uncomfortable flight from thereon (not that it was any better before)[/quote'] :hysterical::hysterical:

[donkey]

I agree about Indian parents, they seriously need to learn how to discipline their kids rather than pretending they dont exist.

[Clarke]

My rant: Some fat b@$t@rd$ spread out like they paid for 25% of my seat, their elbows and feet pushing deep into your seat and leg area. Couple that with the jumping of queues and all the wild behavior, I have been thinking of making multiple copies of an oxford dictionary page. The word courtesy needs to be highlighted on that page. Its hardly surprising though, the society believes in the push-rush mentality, look at the roads for instance. I doubt people will change for the occasional foreign trip even if they're told to do so. Even the NRIs who don't mind the queues at Heathrow/JFK descend into chaos at the very first opportunity.

[Prakat]

The two, short and loud kissy sounds minus the "Chotu!" or "Raju!" to summon the crew.

[nikred]

I travel a lot by bus from Hyderabad to Pune. When someone asks me to give up my window seat I politely tell them I suffer from a condition, I am claustrophobic and will start hyperventilating and vomit if I sit away from the window. Its easier to make up this BS story than fight with them and ruin my journey. :P

[Ram]

Nothing new. Our brethren have been making us proud for nearly two decades now and the legend continues with the onsite IT fob dudes. The concept of deodorant eludes a lot of people on long haul flights and our dudes dont even use talcum powder. I had the misfortune of sitting next to one such stud who after a few drinks decided that he would vent some of his rising testosterone levels by trying to squeeze an air hostess bum and he got an earful from her. Not content' date=' he tried chatting up a german girl who was clearly too young. I got into an argument with him and it was an uncomfortable flight from thereon (not that it was any better before)[/quote'] Vaaw, u so sophisticated, you should consider buying your own private plane instead of traveling with fob dudes who stink and grope strange women. :isalute:

[Number]

I once ran into a dumb desi settled in Canada on a flight. He was talking some BS stats and metrics to put Sachin down. Man I wish I had landed some punches.

:hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical: Seems like only I got it.

[Ram]

Just for the record, I have traveled equally with desi, non-desi people. I dont find Indians any more smelly or impolite or any of the hilarious adjectives that we seem so fond of using when describing one of our own. P.S; Of course, by just sheer upbringing, you'd find the average Indian/chinese in Amreeka more blunt/less courteous than an average white dude. But thats not because they choose to be like that, it is just the way these people grow up.

[India-KXIP fan]

[Magneto]

I once ran into a dumb desi settled in Canada on a flight. He was talking some BS stats and metrics to put Sachin down. Man I wish I had landed some punches.

:hysterical: :hysterical: Classic PK!

[Anonymous]

Vaaw' date=' u so sophisticated, you should consider buying your own private plane instead of traveling with fob dudes who stink and grope strange women. :isalute:[/quote'] so, if you dont grope and not stink, one becomes sophisticated?? :hatsoff: I am hardly the self loathing type

[moniker]

the airhostess aunty stared at me like it was my fault

Airhostess aunty?? lol what are you like 12 years old? :D