Passengers on major commercial airlines have generally understood best practices for good behavior.
For example, it is important to have your boarding pass and ID ready before reaching the front of the security line so as not to contribute to the slowness of the sometimes tedious process.
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Helping others load suitcases into the overhead compartment is good courtesy.
Being willing to swap seats with families who want to travel together is also respectful behavior.
In general, it is important to respect the space of other passengers. This includes letting middle-seat passengers rest their elbows and exercising proper reclining manners.
On southwest airlines (LUV) – Get a free reportAn unusual boarding policy adds another layer of important etiquette practices.
Southwest does not have seating assignments for passengers. Instead, passengers are grouped into categories A, B and C, with numbers assigned to each according to the order of boarding.
Passengers then select their seats according to boarding order.
Southwest boarding method adds fuel to controversy
A common approach to people traveling together on Southwest is seen in attempts by passengers with early boarding privileges to reserve seats for people boarding later.
Southwest does not prohibit this practice. On flights that are not completely full, for obvious reasons, this is less of a problem than on flights that are.
But another debate gained steam on social media when a couple recently claimed an aisle seat and a middle seat, but then closed the window blind.
A post on a Southwest Airlines subreddit, written by user Lavender_Hazex13, explains the situation.
“I was flying a very full flight and was at the beginning of boarding group C,” the passenger wrote. “When I boarded, there were only single seats left. I walked around the plane until I found an empty seat and sat in a row with a couple in the aisle and in the middle seat. I took the empty seat by the window.”
“When I sat down, the window blind was closed,” the Reddit user explained further. “As I sat down, I opened the blind. The couple didn’t say anything, but they were clearly upset that I had opened the blind and spent most of the flight blocking the sun with my hands and looking askance.”
The window seat passenger explained his feelings during the incident and wondered about accepted expectations in such a situation.
“I felt a little bad, but I love the window seats and looking out of the plane,” the passenger wrote. “My thought is that if they were going to bother about the window blind, they should have chosen the window seat. What’s the etiquette here?”
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Travel expert and View From the Wing author Gary Leff weighed in on the controversy.
“If you want to control the window blind of your row of seats, then you should choose a window seat.” leff wrote.
Leff provided a tip for passengers who are not in window seats and prefer closed shades.
“Maybe if you fly southwest, board early and choose your seats and (1) you’re not going to choose the window, but (2) you still have a preference for the shade position, so bring sunglasses?” he wrote.
Leff also included a note about his preferences regarding blinds.
“I like to have a window open as much as possible, unless the sun is shining through the window so brightly that it interferes with the screens,” he wrote. “I don’t like flight attendants who require window blinds to be closed on daytime flights from Europe to the US, as I never sleep on those flights and find them less tiring when I have light. But there’s not much to do can do on a Boeing 787 when they control the blinds, or when the crew approaches scolding passengers who open the windows.
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