I would like your thoughts on how you would have handled a situation in the plane where a passenger traveling on economy in a long flight reclines his chair to sit more comfortably, as he has every right to do, but the passenger behind him requests that he doesn't do so because it makes him uncomfortable, nervous and very agitated. How would you manage the situation if you were asked to intervene as the flight attendant on duty and how would you manage it if you were the passenger in the front seat who doesn't want to cede his right and there are no other empty seats in the plane?

Designate one toilet in the plane for express use. Make it that passengers cannot stay longer than 2 minutes. On long flights, economy seat passengers often use the toilet after a meal is served or before the plane is ready to land. A queue forms when the passengers who use the toilet stay in for long making those waiting outside grow restless. An express toilet, intended for a quick wash of the hands or fast discharge of body fluids of the impatient kind, makes in-flight customer service more satisfying. There should be an automatic counter that times duration of use and displays the time remaining to those waiting outside and to the person using the toilet inside.

Why do most people get up from their seats as soon as the plane lands and the fasten-your-seat-belt sign is off? Most passengers seem to prefer to stand in queue until the doors of the plane open. I have observed this behavior in all flights I make. Even passengers in economy who sit at the back of the plane prefer to wait standing. This is true both in long and short flights. I call these passengers imps, which means i-m-patiently-standing! What type of passenger are you?

Just after take-off and a few minutes before landing. That's a crazy idea of a musician friend of mine. It's not allowed of course but he asked me to ask people how they would feel if an airline offered a few minutes of in-flight live music. I think it's too difficult if not impossible to do on commercial flights but perhaps on a private flight it's possible. hmmm, I must admit that it's fun to imagine it. Flight attendants playing Mozart on the violin and other musical instruments before landing in Austria. That sounds so... Hollywood! Movies are definitely the place this idea can work well :)

Most airlines' baggage and ticketing systems are separate. Even though airline companies know right away if a passenger's luggage did not make it on the plane, the passenger usually finds out about it after landing and after waiting quite a long time in the luggage pick up area. This waiting time is inconvenient and unnecessary. Airline companies can notify passengers whose luggage didn't make it to the plane during boarding or just before take off. They can send text message directly to the cell phone of the passenger and/or have a flight attendant inform them that the company will send it at their place so they don't have to wait for it when they land. All airlines should meet that standard in service.

I was asked the other day by a passenger who forgot to bring his book with him if there were any magazines or newspapers I could bring him to read. I was able to give him a few spare newspapers but I was thinking that in long flights airlines can come up with a way for passengers to swap with other passengers reading material (books, magazines, newspapers) that they brought with them and finished reading. (read more)

Some flight attendants count passengers manually or using a hand counter, every time you click on it it adds a number, then they write down in a piece of paper the total number of passengers, vips or extra crews. This is a process that can be automated with an electronic passenger recognition system above seats.

What about installing an intranet system on commercial flights whereby passengers could text chat or play games with each other? Passengers could use live text chat to meet or talk to other passengers or play games with others on the flight without having to change seats to do that. Isn't a long flight more fun when you happen to be seated next to someone who is very interesting to meet and talk to? How often does it happen though? Instead of leaving it all to chance and serendipity, an intranet system that can connect each and every passenger in the same way online social networks and playing games do would make flights more fun and interesting.

This thought is from a passenger discussion I overheard in a flight a few days ago. The concept has merits and is possible to implement although I am not sure if it will ever happen. Hand over your carry-on-board luggage at the check-in counter. The luggage is scanned and checked and transported to the plane. There it is placed on a numbered-by-the-seat conveyor belt that moves each carry-on item to the appropriate compartment. When the plane lands the conveyor belt moves the luggage to the exit. No time wasted before or after the flight placing luggage in and out of the compartment. There is also less weight for the passengers to carry.

Most people know by now that new regulations are that you can't carry any liquid over 100ml with you in the plane. Yet some still don't know and many who do know also forget, carry it with them all the way to security check and then are told they have to leave it behind. Since the passenger already checked in their luggage that nice wine gift stays back with customs and most of the time it's never reclaimed. That's because it's not easy to do. How about the item that's left over is immediately tagged and the passenger is given a track number to trace their item online and order it to be shipped at special discount rates given by the airline company the customer flew with. This is a good idea to keep customers happy don't you think?