It takes all kinds of passengers to make the world go round, ranging from nice, to annoying, to downright infuriating. We’ve encountered them all many, many times so we’re pretty good at clocking which type of passenger you will be the minute you step on board.
So which of the 7 types of passengers are you? Keep reading to find out!
1. The Travel Pro
The travel pro is a seasoned traveler. These passengers are your business travelers, military frequent flyers, traveling nurses, and other airline industry employees.
The travel pro packs light and right, bringing everything they will need in a neat, organized, and relatively compact bag, (typically from Travel Pro). They board with a smile and a brief greeting, stow their luggage quickly and settle in with a pair of noise canceling headphones on.
Travel pros understand the airline industry and what to expect, so they are just as good at rolling with the punches as flight crews and understand delays are an inevitable part of air travel.
2. The Travel Noob
On the opposite side of the spectrum we have the travel noob. These passengers have never flown, or rarely fly, and usually bustle onto the airplane with an air of chaotic energy around them. They often have large, over-packed bags, full of unnecessary items.
They bump into everyone already seated on their way to their seat and take forever to stow their bags, often making multiple attempts to fit their bag into the overhead bin in the wrong direction.
The travel noobs are typically very friendly and excited to travel, and often ask us a million questions about our job. Travel noobs, however, will immediately lose their cool if the flight gets delayed. They also tend to have high expectations because their understanding of air travel is based on movies set in the golden age of aviation.
3. The Average Passenger
The average passenger is someone who is neither a pro, nor a noob at flying. They are comfortable enough on airplanes and generally have their act together during boarding.
Average passengers are polite, but mostly just offer us a smile and a hello when boarding, and a please and thank you during the on-board service. They don’t talk to us, they rarely get out of their seat, and they don’t quite seem to enjoy the experience of flying.
These passengers have realistic expectations and won’t pitch a fit if we happen to be unable to satisfy all of their hopes for the flight. They do still freak out when the flight is delayed.
4. The Karen
Karen passengers can be any gender. These passengers have unrealistic expectations and a low threshold for becoming triggered and offended.
They usually begin the flight by refusing to properly stow their designer luggage because they are afraid of it getting damaged. Once in flight they will threaten to have an unlucky flight attendant fired because we ran out of the drink/food they wanted before making it to their row.
And heaven forbid the flight get delayed or diverted, because they will make the entire situation about themselves and how terrible it is. Paradoxically Karen’s are often well-traveled, so you would think they would understand how to act and yet they are often the type of passengers who are the most disrespectful towards their flight crew.
5. The Party Animal
Passengers who are party animals are all about getting the party started the moment they enter the airport.
Party animals are the type to board the plane slightly tipsy and are the first to ask for a double during in-flight service. Most of the time, they aren’t a problem if they understand their party isn’t everyone else’s party. But, of course, sometimes they also get up to some shenanigans and try to involve the whole plane.
The one benefit of a party animal passenger is the fact that they are often too drunk to notice whether or not their flight is on time.
6. The Fitness Flyer
Fitness flyers typically only make themselves known on long-haul flights and are otherwise average passengers.
Fitness flyers invade the galley in between in-flight meal services and convert our working space into a Pilates reformer at 30,000 feet to stretch out or begin to walk laps around the cabin to get their steps in. Unfortunately, this can be quite disruptive to passengers who are trying to catch some shut eye, and annoying for the crew who get pushed out of the one space reserved for them, the galley!
Fitness flyers also tend to have a weird paranoia about getting deep vein thrombosis, even if the flight is only like 8-hours.
7. The Perfect Passenger
Perfect passengers are of course flight attendant’s favorite type of passengers.
Perfect passengers bring the flight crew treats or thank you notes to brighten our day and are very polite and friendly during the in-flight service. They always remove their headphones when we come through the cabin. They smile and say please and thank you while we serve them and are friendly without ever over-staying their welcome in the galley.
They may not be well-traveled, but they follow the lead of others and take delays in stride while staying cheerful no matter what.
So which type of passenger are you?
Since you are one of our readers, you are probably a travel pro and a perfect passenger!
