Why don't F passengers 'button' their napkins?
 

I realize that this topic is incredibly unimportant in the scale of life’s concerns. That said, I have rarely observed passengers in F using the button part of the napkin. And, of course, there are times when the opening is sewed shut, thusly rendering the button part useless.

But I seem to be the only passenger buttoning the top of my shirt, thusly avoiding ruining the shirt.

Do you, the people who fly F much more than I, think that part of the reason that passengers don’t ‘button’ is that it makes them feel like children? If not, what’s your theory?

The only improvement I can see is if they made the napkin of 100% cotton as opposed to the polyester scratchy product it is now.

Thanks for your thoughts.

I doubt most people know about the button hole or why it's there.

I always button my napkin to my shirt. I'd rather look silly on the plane and arrive with a clean shirt than to spend the day looking silly with a soiled shirt.

I always use the button in the napkin as well, and have noticed that I'm usually the only one. I really like that they put those holes there. I'm sure I've saved quite a few shirts by using it.

I've always used the button hole. But then what does this topic have to do with earning AA Miles?

My seatmate did this the other day. He was somewhat older than me; I had never seen someone do this on the plane; I thought it was old school. I was aware of the button hole, knew it's purpose, but I had never seen someone take AAdvantage of the button hole.

I am MUCH more concerned about the pants. The seating configuration is not ideal and is worsened by a-holes in front of me not putting their chairs forward during the meal. I place my napkin on the sliding tray table, extend it to my person and place it onto my belly. It makes a U-shaped catchers mitt for the food that doesn't seem to stay on the plastic ware. The consistency of the AA food is very hit-or-miss, and I would hate to have a limp vegetable fall off the utensil and into my lap.

That being said, I can’t remember any food landing on the napkin. I guess it’s just some strange phobia I have. Nobody wants a bite from a messy southwestern omelet to end up splattered on their pants.


Sam

I do much the same thing, Sam - DFW!

I also think that a lot of flyers do not realize it is there and/or do not know what it is.

That said, I don't use them because I tend to be very careful in an airplane when I eat and tend to lean toward the plate as opposed to having the food pass over my clothing. Better safe than sorry.

I always do this.

I sometimes do this, however, normal dining etiquette is for to place the napkin on your lap. I am not aware of there being a difference in etiquett when dining aloft.

I didn't even know about the button, though I rarely eat on the plane, even if I am in F. Thanks for the tip though!

Obligatory '80s quote...

"...And knowing is half the battle!" :D

I always button up. One of the posters is correct that this is against "land etiquette". However, I make an exception when aloft because even the upright seating position in F makes it difficult to get that forward incline that would make the chest placement of the napkin necessary.

I have noticed that many flyers want to do this but are embarrassed. Quite often I travel in F from DFW to LGW on business and I normally am the first one to do it. However, more than once, I have seen other flyers see me do it and follow. I guess when they see a mid 30s man dressed in a suit and sitting in F doing it, they dont feel so foolish... :)

I always do this... I find it strangely gratifying. In fact, I had the pleasure several years ago of instructing an unaccompanied minor, who the FA had placed next to me to keep an eye on, in the correct procedure. I would like to think that he still remembers the protocol.

Are there any other locales where one can encounter these napkins with buttonholes?

I never do it , nor have any desire to do so; the etiquette ( as mentioned ) is for napkins to go on a lap and I have buttoning it onto a shirt as much a faux pas as sending back gazpacho soup for being cold

Dave

I always do it. I never see anyone else do it. Perhaps we should form a club?

QF napkins have the same hole. Wonder why they would do it if it WASN'T to be used on your shirt....

Maybe it is how they hang them up in the galley. Or something in the washing process.

Count me in for the secret napkin club! I've always been doing it, and it has saved at least a couple of shirts so far.

And the etiquette? Eating the reconstituted slop that passes for F meal with plastic flatware off a TV tray built in to a chair you're tethered to with a belt pretty much takes care of any possible etiquette compliance issues right there! We bear a closer resemblance to my 18 month old in a high chair than to an epicurean at Le Cirque. Sorry!

:p ;)

Oh, and my advAAnced technique is to use the third button from the top. This places the napkin in a position where it can catch both the shirt-bound as well as pant-bound ejecta.

I'm glad we're finally getting into meatier subjects (no pun intended). :cool:

Sami

I definitely do it every time as well. Especially on the blue Recaro seats which have all that built-in recline.

Steve

:D

this is why we cant fly in jeans and a t-shirt you MUST have a button down shirt on in F

I never wear a button-down shirt. So I often have to take my cell phone and use it to clip the napkin to my T-shirt collar.

you can always ware a front closing bra and snap it to that :cool:

Count me in. A consistent button'er. I seldom have seen anyone else take use the button option.

I'm very careful and ~95% of the time, I also button the napkin on. Like others, in my field of view, I'm generally the only person doing this. There have been times when I've seen others do it to, but it is rare.

I would do it, but I normally don't wear a buttoned up shirt when I travel. Comfort is key!

Lucky you! I am almost always flying on business and these days you get into a meeting almost as soon as you get off. Not even time to go to the hotel. Gone are the days when I was sent on a business trip overseas with a buffer day built in.

I button the napkin whenever I'm wearing a buttondown shirt. I rarely see anybody else do it, but the practice has saved me from walking into business meetings with grease or sauce down my front.

I've done those before, and even then I'd wear more relaxed clothes onboard and just put on the shirt at the airport. Wrinkle-resistent fabrics are great that way, and you don't risk ANY stains whatsoever.

Plato90,

Yeah. Good Point.

I miss those buffer days. In the mid 90s when I used to travel to LGW from DFW. I used to take the last AA flight out of DFW and land in LGW at around 10 AM. Would take the Gatwick Express to town and then take a cab to my hotel. Check in around 12:30 PM. Go workout. Take a nice shower. Then have a late lunch. Then go and have a nice walk at Oxford St. Then meet the client for drinks/dinner at night and have the first full business day the next morning.

Now I take the first AA flight out. Reach there at 7 AM in the morning. Depending on how I have been booked, I either immediately leave for London to get to a meeting by 9 AM or have an extra 30 mins to take a shower. In either case I have a full business day that does not finish till 11 PM. The first time I see my hotel is at near midnight that day. The next morning I am back at the clients office by 9.

Aah the good ole' wasteful dot com funded days.....Miss them

I always button but have never seen anyone else do this, guess I am not sitting next to the right people.

You make the assumption that all topics must be related to earning AA miles. That's a bad assumption. As long as the discussion is about AA, it's a valid topic for discussion. ;)

Actually the board IS about the Aadvantage program - however a VERY wide range is discussed........and back to the topic....

I always do - however some how my food has a mind of it's own and finds the gap to land squarely on my shirt or lap...... never fails. CX's solution to the button hole - Mini clothespin - works well.

Twice on my last 3 flights up front the buttonholes in the napkins were not actually holes, just the stitching around what were to have been holes. I am a dedicated dripper of salad dressing (the chances directly proportionate to the value of the shirt/tie) so I whipped out the trusty old implements of choice (plastic fork tongs useless) - a ballpoint pen and my house key - and made a holes where they should have been. Presto, no pesto messto.

Plus on an MD-80 it passes for in-flight entertainment. :(

Yeah I said it. So what.
 

<rant>

Mostly because far too many are uncivilized knuckle-dragging slags. ;) Look around you. People are putting their feet on bulkheads, wearing socks or going barefoot into the lav, changing babies on the seat trays, and dressing in whatever rags that look like the latest homeless-chic fashion. The same disgusting behaviour you see in Y has crept into F. You can't expect people who behave like that to know about or use the button hole on the napkin.

</rant>

Years ago, probably around 1969, I flew ORD-MIA on a NW flight. If I had only known what the "button hole" was for, it really would have come in handy. I was still in college and "Chicken Kiev" was something new to me. They served it for dinner and there were little toothpicks in the chicken that said, "Poke me gently." Paying no attention to the message, I jabbed the chicken with my fork and got squirted and drenched with butter sauce!

The person who met me at the gate thought I had thrown up all over myself! Come to think of it, I sat in COACH and I probably just had a paper napkin. Even so, it still may have saved my shirt if I had positioned the napkin properly.

Imagine that...Chicken Kiev served in Coach and it was delicious too!! :)

I always use the buttonhole.

Sometimes though, I forget and head off to the lav with my hanging napkin.

Perhaps AA has stopped actually cutting the holes in the stitching as another enhAAncement designed to save money. :D

AY does that, too. Very neat for when there is no button to be found.

Sami

What a delightful topic and reading through the discussion I feel I have learned something new too - having never quite twigged as to the purpose of the button hole.

Now if only the napkin had two button holes, one could thread a ribbon through so one could secure the cloth to ones head by ones chin. So much classier than tying knots at the four corners :)