I had an upgrade yesterday morning (cleared 5 days in advance, 29 names on the waiting list when I went to board) from CVG to PHX, and the gentleman seated next to me was the sort of "its all about me" entitlement snob that we all have run across from time to time.

1. Camped out on the Breezeway carpet 15 minutes prior to boarding. Maybe I can understand this if you're in a bulkhead, but he was in row 4. Is there really a danger that the plane will leave without you?
2. Put both his bag and his computer bag in the overhead. On a full flight, it's common courtesy to put one bag under the seat in front of you, isnt it? Caused a ripple effect and the last guy on in FC got shafted.
3. Immediately took his shoes off, but no socks. I don't really want to spend 4 hours staring and smelling his dirty dogs. What's ediquette on this?
4. Even after the announcements, kept pounding away on his blackberry while listening to his iPod as if it didnt apply to him - right up to takeoff.
5. When the movie started, every other passenger lowered their shades when asked - except this guy. No individual seatback screens, just the crappy overhead units, so any light whatsoever makes it unwatchable.
6. He slept through breakfast. After everything had been cleared, he woke up - and rang the FA to get his breakfast served, complained that the cereal option was gone, AND asked for extra croissants. ...? This isn't Dennys.

Now I realize that they are all trivial little items, and none of them warranted a confrontation, but when you string them together on one flight, I found myself laughing at what a high maintenance diva this guy was.

Anyone else have any FC stories to share?

(btw, the CVG GAs were strictly checking all carryons with the size-wise thing, AND forcibly checking any bag that didnt easily slip in and out).

Fortunately, I have never seen any such oafish behavior in F.

I just wanted to post to say how happy I am to see that someone, somewhere is strictly enforcing carry-on size restrictions. I'm going through CVG on Thursday, so we'll see if they are keeping it up.

I have no hesitation in reporting that I do #1 all the time. Not because I'm worried about the plane leaving without me, but because of the Overhead Storage War (TM). Like you said, too many people, including and especially in FC, put all their bags up top and the last person to board FC gets shafted. I carry ONE bag, and I do whatever I have to do to NOT be that shafted person.

As for the rest of the list, easy for me to say as a stranger on the 'Net hiding behind a keyboard, but I don't do #'s 2 thru 6.

As for number 1, who cares? No harm, no foul.

Regarding the window shade, whoever is sitting in the window seat gets to decide whether or not they want their shade lowered. If I'm working or reading I will always have my shade open during daylight hours, unless the sun is hitting me directly in my eyes. Plus, it gets claustrophobic after a while if all the shades are closed.

Yep, it seems like flights are full of people like this these days. They are sad little men who feel all powerful when they get that free upgrade. I just sit back and enjoy the show. It's especially funny to continue watching the FA's facial expression after they finish dealing with these passengers. They just kind of laugh about as if to say "what an idiot" to the other FA's. (rightfully so).

Outside getting a A320SR where an entire F bin is taken by the raft, F should never run out of space for the F pax. I've only seen issues when Y pax put there bag there.

My attitude is usually live and let live, but I will allow myself to be entertained when someone acts like a diva. Nonetheless, if DL were to allow me the authority to make one system-wide rule that all passengers would have to follow, it would have something to do with bare feet on the plane. Would these people go into a friend's house and stick their bare feet on the kitchen table? If I stuck my nasty bare foot on their seat, would they sit right back down, or ask for it to be cleaned? When did bare feet become acceptable?

When I was a kid, we got dressed up to fly on a plane. Little jacket, tie and shined shoes. (On those rare times when we flew, as opposed to the usual day when we walked eight miles up hill through the snow to get to school and eight miles uphill through the snow to get home.) If I had taken off my shoes my mother would have recoiled in horror. I cannot imagine what she would have done if I had waved my bare foot around the plane.

Oh, wait, second rule I'd ask for - men would have to have sleeves on shirts when they're on a plane. I actually saw a guy on a plane last week wearing a pink "Breast Inspector" tank top. Mid-forties, hadn't seen the inside of a gym since Nixon was President. Lucky for him that his excess arm and back hair were keeping him warm because the connecting city was below freezing.

I had one who just was apparently inconvenienced by everything and everyone. Plops in, takes off shoes (no socks). Every time anyone got even close to him while boarding he'd glare, then mutter some comment about people can't walk straight. Fussed at the FA because he had to ask twice (within a 45 second period) for a drink while people were boarding.

My favorite though, after we're airborne, and long before the announcement, grabs his laptop and sets up to start whatever critically important work he had to do. Then the guy in front of him reclined. Now, the seatback came nowhere near the laptop, but the guy started hitting the seatback. Didn't say anything, just kept pushing it until the guy in front of him sat back up (after a few glares). Then he had the gall to say, loud enough for people to hear "Some people just have no courtesy".

You can excuse #1 anyway you want, it is still a "me first" attitude, I do it myself. And escpecially in this guys case it points to his character.

The one that irks me is the guy on the phone, there is a legit reason they should be off.

This flyer is only concerned about one thing, himself. One hopes that karma will catch up.

I was sitting in the bulkhead in first - the guy next time took off his shoes - no socks also. After take off, he reclined and proceeded to operate the AV unit with his barefeet. I mentioned it to the FAs, but they didn't do anything.

On the 4:15pm PHL>DTW last Sunday (1.17) an older gentleman in either 2C or 3C (I forget what row I was in) had his Kindle on during takeoff, and had it on again during our approach. When the FA asked him to turn it off, he went on a ramble dissertation that it is not a computer and that he has flown to Beijing and Tokyo on Delta and has NEVER been asked to turn it off. This went on for 5 minutes and involved a second FA. He finally relented...until the FAs took their seats. Then he powered it back on.

Ewww Ewww Ewwwwwwwwwww! Unless Daniel Day Lewis portrayed you in a movie in which Brenda Fricker played your mother, there is no excuse for using one's foot to touch anything. Yuuuuuck!

I always take my shoes off on flights and depending on the weather my socks too if i'm even wearing them. I've never understood this foot paranoia- chances are your hands that touch everything are probably more dirty than your feet that have been nowhere up until then except in clean socks inside your shoes.

I was on a flight last week returning from FCO and the passenger in bulk head asked the FA if it was ok to put her feet on the wall and the FA said of course and had no problem with it.

When people come to my house for dinner everyone takes off their shoes at the front door to keep dirt from tracking in.

i don't think feet are any more gross than hands, and probably even less so.

Last year, a guy physically tossed my bag onto the floor because, in his words "I touched his bag in HIS space in the overhead bin". Knowing that I would be sent to jail if I hit him (I am in good shape, early 30s and 6'5" - He was short, early 50s, and not fit) I calmly put my bag back in the overhead bin. I then told him calmly that "He had better be able to run when we get off the plane in SFO."

The FAs, who were utterly shocked by the guy throwing my bag out of the overhead bin gave me ^^ and actually thanked me for "acting like an adult".

When we landed, the guy seemed agitated and kept looking at me. I just stared at him intensely. He actually ran when we got off the plane. It was quite rewarding. It is sad when things get to this point. I would not exactly call my behaviour "adult", but it was better than some of the things described in this thread!

For the record - I wouldn't have done anything to the guy. I just wanted to make his flight as miserable as he had made all of ours in F.

TFD

Worse than just shoes off. Shoes off from the person behind, who then puts their feet on your armrest.