Holiday travellers from HELL!!

Saruman

Just got back from a lovely week in Lanzarote
Went with budget, flight was with Futura.. cant fault either of them.

However on the way there myself and wife had the family from hell behind us.. Mother and 2 daughters (father was in different seat as only 3 across).
From the moment we got on the kids were screaming, jumping up and down, kicking our seats, banging the tray tables.. even pulling our hair sometimes. The mother with a real north side ballymun type accent wearing pink tracksuit (Nice to see her keep the sterotype) was screaming at the top of her lungs at them which only made them cry or more so scream as loud as they could in defiance. I would have turned around and told her to control her kids but when i saw the dad i decided better. Looks like the sort who would start a fight on the plane causing us both to get arrested or something. Holiday would be ruined. So i put up with it for the 4 hour flight. On a side note we had an ignorant couple in front of us who put their seats back as soon as the seatbelt light was turned off.. leaving us with no room in front and kicked seats behind.
Anyway great holiday later, time to go home and would you believe it... the same assholes as before behind us.. my wife was almost in tears!! She could not even relax let alone sleep!! I was so close to air rage it was not Funny!! So close to beating the crap out of the kids... Only little bit of revenge i got was i got tired of it with 2 hours to go so i banged my seat back and left it like that till landing so they would not have quite so much room to jump about! I do not like putting my seat back as its inconsiderate to others.. in this case i was justified i think!!!

Bluetonic

What did the flight staff say when you complained at the time?

FlutterinBantam

Bluetonic wrote:

What did the flight staff say when you complained at the time?

Heh heh...Excuse my cynical demeanour... but I doubt if the flight staff took a blind bit of notice...these types are on E V E R Y flight....Off for the three holidays a year...look for the nearest Ooirish Bar to make "base camp"...drink,smoke, let the kids run wild for the duration...Im surprised you even bother to mention an incident like this.... its on every holiday flight

trotter_inc

FlutterinBantam wrote:

Im surprised you even bother to mention an incident like this.... its on every holiday flight

I think in this case its a lot worse than what I've ever experienced...

Afuera

Saruman wrote:

we had an ignorant couple in front of us who put their seats back as soon as the seatbelt light was turned off..

That's what those seats are designed to do... Is there some unwritten rule that you're not allowed to use them like this?

You can't really complain about someone else trying to get themselves comfortable for the flight. You're free to move your seat back too...

Still though it sounds like you got rightly shafted with the seating arrangements for both flights. At least with Ryanair you can spot who's going to be trouble before you get on the plane and then stay well clear.

netwhizkid

Thankfully this has never happened to me. I usually fly Business class depending on how much I budget for the Holiday. The last two times I flew I went economy though, First time I flew economy was annoying as the people in front left back the seats and I could see that the person behind me was an old man who was obviously riddled with Arthritis. I kept my seat forward to give the poor chap as much room as I could. (I do these sort of things as I hope people might do them for me one day if I live to be that old)

Anyway last year I flew Aer Lingus to NYC from Shannon. Nice flight and thankfully the people in front must be noobs to flying as they didn't leave back the seat. I had two American kids sitting next to me and I don't know whether it is a cultural thing or else we Irish are muck savages but they were the most well behaved kids I have ever encountered, they spent the last two hours of my flight telling me about places to see on the East coast and explaining Baseball. I might even fly economy again this year if my plans for New Zealand go ahead. It all depends on what I can get out there using the financial saving of not flying first class.

FlutterinBantam

Very few package holiday flts have a business class, unfortunately

Business class to New Zealand....!!!! nice one... talkin guts of 3.5-4k there I'd say..... wife an kiddies going to Ballabunnon are they??:cool:

Saruman

Afuera wrote:

That's what those seats are designed to do... Is there some unwritten rule that you're not allowed to use them like this?

You can't really complain about someone else trying to get themselves comfortable for the flight. You're free to move your seat back too...

Still though it sounds like you got rightly shafted with the seating arrangements for both flights. At least with Ryanair you can spot who's going to be trouble before you get on the plane and then stay well clear.

Eh no thats what they were designed to do when planes had more room so putting your seat back was no problem. These days if someone puts their seat back its a struggle to do ANYTHING!!! Cant read unless you have book to your face. Cant get up to go to the toilet without dragging yourself up using their seat. You cant even pick your nose there is not enough room...

Look around you next time on a plane... MOST people do not do it as they know they would hate it if someone did it to them!!!
The new Ryanair planes do not have seats that go back thank God!!
Oh and i only mentioned the seat thing because it did not bother me in the least as the family behind were so bad!!

Anyway no i did not complain to staff on the flight.. no point.. i looked around for some empty seats but not one... so no point complaining to flight staff when there is nothing they can do about it!!

At one point near the end of the flight.. when they came around with the duty free the woman behind me tried ordering drinks from the bar and it was explained its duty free not bar service.. she ignored the girl and kept trying to (in slurred drunken words) order smirnoff Ice and stuff for her kids.

Right_Side

Afuera wrote:

That's what those seats are designed to do... Is there some unwritten rule that you're not allowed to use them like this?

You can't really complain about someone else trying to get themselves comfortable for the flight. You're free to move your seat back too...

It really is the height of rudeness, ignorance etc. to lean your seat back in this day and age with reduced space on planes.

Thank god Ryanair did away with it.

netwhizkid

Right_Side wrote:

Thank god Ryanair did away with it.

The only reason Ryanair did away with it is that those reclining seats are most expensive to fit in the Ryanair planes and inevitably need more maintenance. As part of Ryanair's "revision of expenditure" weren't they supposed to get rid of the seat cloth thing behind your head and Windows shades that you pull down. Ryanair will do anything to cut costs typical huh? I guess it shall only be a matter of time before they implement some of the ideas in these two articles. Link1 link2 The saying "I flew on an Airbus" will take on a whole new meaning I suppose.

FlutterinBantam wrote:

Very few package holiday flts have a business class, unfortunately

Business class to New Zealand....!!!! nice one... talkin guts of 3.5-4k there I'd say..... wife an kiddies going to Ballabunnon are they??:cool:

Having neither wife nor Kids helps a bit actually. Ah well "Economy Class" is nice while it lasts. I'm glad I have the financial means to fly Business wherever I want to. I don't think I'd venture into Cattle Class tbh. Now what to rename economy class?? I guess it might be help with the old DVT as the weight of your body would be helping the blood circulation.

Taking bets now as to when O'Leary Airlines introduce Cattle Class

Dave!

netwhizkid wrote:

Ryanair will do anything to cut costs typical huh?

Yeh, and this is reflected in their prices.....

We can't all afford to ride in luxury unfortunately.

Right_Side

netwhizkid wrote:

The only reason Ryanair did away with it is that those reclining seats are most expensive to fit in the Ryanair planes and inevitably need more maintenance.

Well they killed two birds with one stone.

Afuera

Right_Side wrote:

It really is the height of rudeness, ignorance etc. to lean your seat back in this day and age with reduced space on planes.

This baby might sort out this problem once and for all:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TRAVEL/04/04/bt.knee.defender/index.html

Technically though, under aviation law I think a person has the right to recline their seat if they want to. I personally don't see it as being rude or ignorant if the person infront of me wants to avail of it.

netwhizkid

Afuera wrote:

This baby might sort out this problem once and for all:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TRAVEL/04/04/bt.knee.defender/index.html

Technically though, under aviation law I think a person has the right to recline their seat if they want to. I personally don't see it as being rude or ignorant if the person infront of me wants to avail of it.

It could cost you about the same as a cheapo flight but it may give some comfort. Linky here

Darren

I travel long, long haul routes quite a lot. I work for an airline and it quite frankly a bit of a lottery where I sit, It could be first, business, economy, jumpseat or anywhere there is room.

I don't have a problem with people reclining their seats but as soon as the person in front reclines their seat, I recline mine.

The travellers from hell I met were a bunch of Dublin lads that were in Saigon in Jan/Feb. I knew they were Dublin peeps because they insisted on wearing Arnotts apparel ALL the time. Anyone care to offer any opinions as to why they felt the urge to do this?? Is is a kind of a , 'I'm so cool cos I am from Dublin and I am all they way over here' thing?? I had nothing against these lads cos they were Dubs but their behaviour was frankly a disgrace.

FlutterinBantam

Tell us more..... I am intrigued

Working for an airline..... must be a cushy one?

Free flights everywhere and all the family.....wow

Darren

Extreme drunken behaviour. Looking for fights, mistreating the local people, bullying.

Linoge

Afuera wrote:

That's what those seats are designed to do... Is there some unwritten rule that you're not allowed to use them like this?

You can't really complain about someone else trying to get themselves comfortable for the flight. You're free to move your seat back too...

I was just going to say that too. By all means complain about noise or people kicking your seat, but the seats are designed to be let back (on the planes where seats are designed to be let back!)

deisemum

It's not just the Irish that can be tourists from hell. On Friday my family were on a coach tour in Paris and we were stuck alongside the children of 2 spanish families. The mothers (loud mouths) sat a few rows away on the opposite side of the coach. One father sat behind them but let them carry on. I work with children and I can honestly say these children were the worst behaved, loud mouthed children I've encountered.

My own children were shocked by their behaviour. We couldn't even hear the commentary in our headphones. The tour guide just ignored them, I reckon she was wary of the mothers. Unlike OP we made sure that we got seats downstairs on the coach and they were upstairs. It did put a damper on the trip.