Airport Disease: Enter Airport, Exit Manners

Recently, as I was passing through airport security, another passenger had a go at me for no particular reason.

This person was retrieving her items from the tray after it had passed through the X-ray scanner. My tray came out directly behind hers, so I stood beside her and started doing the same. As I was doing this, the following trays came out of the X-ray machine and were being mechanically pushed along the conveyer belt. This pushed my tray further along the conveyer belt, and in turn hers as well. Since, you know, that’s how conveyer belts work!

She turned to me and rudely yelled at me as if I was intentionally trying to push her out of the way. I calmly explained that I was not, and said “sorry” in an attempt to de-escalate the situation. She had no interest in hearing anything I had to say and stormed off in a huff.

A lady in a Virgin Australia uniform was clearing security behind me and witnessed the interaction. After the woman had left, this Virgin Australia employee quietly turned to me and said: “We call this ‘airport disease’. It happens to us all the time – people arrive at the airport, get stressed out, and completely forget their manners. Don’t take it personally.” She then wished me a great day and we continued on our separate ways.

There’s something about airports…

Unfortunately, this Virgin Australia staff member was spot on. This kind of thing happens all the time in airports. Airport disease is real. I’m sure you’ve witnessed it too.

I spend a lot of time in airports, so I don’t personally find them particularly stressful… most of the time. But I can see how the unfamiliarity and pressure of an airport environment might especially heighten the nerves of someone who doesn’t fly a lot.

I’ve previously worked in retail in Australia. A small percentage of customers can be extremely rude for no particular reason. And that’s outside of an airport environment!

Add long queues, disruptions and flight cancellations into the equation, and unfortunately, you can see why the aviation industry felt the need to launch a “No More Carry On” campaign a few years back to try to reduce the amount of abuse directed at frontline airport workers. Those frontline staff must really cop it when things go wrong and people want to vent.

Please, be kind to each other

While I can understand that airports stress some people out, this doesn’t excuse rudeness or bad behaviour.

I feel for airport staff, who must cop abuse from the flying public on a daily basis. It’s uncalled for, and achieves nothing. In fact, if your flight has been disrupted, it’s almost certainly not the fault of the frontline employee you’re dealing with – but that same employee might just be the person who’s in the best position to help you.

Have you seen an example of “airport disease” lately? Share your thoughts and experiences on the AFF forum…