I frequently write about the things that airline lounges need to do for customers. They need to be more spacious and less crowded. They need to offer better food. They need to stay open until an airline’s last flight.
But what about the things that customers need to do for airline lounges? And… for each other?
Customer behavior on planes has changed markedly over the years. As a young child flying on my own as an unaccompanied minor in the early 1980s I used to have to wear a button shirt at a minimum, but also a sport jacket. Now people let it all hang out.
That same behavior extends to airport lounges. Decorum lasted longer there, perhaps, but the more crowded they become the worse passenger behavior often gets, perhaps disappearing into the privacy of being surrounded by people – so many people you’re less likely to be noticed. Things get worse during irregular operations when passengers get tired.
Here’s Indonesia’s then-Fisheries minister asleep on the couch in an airport lounge at New York JFK.
https://t.co/Y9v5OA6aUM : #Picture #Minister – Picture of Minister Susi sleeping at US airport lounge goes viral pic.twitter.com/kTSF2r61hp
— Ardie Echel (@ArdhieEchel) June 12, 2017
Everyday passenger behavior in lounges has gotten worse, from being draped over couches asleep (lounge couches aren’t nap rooms) to simply sticking bare feet up on the furniture. Would you do this at the home of an acquaintance?
@AmericanAir I hate that I have to suggest this, but it might be time to add a “no shirt, no shoes, no service” policy to the Admirals Club so employees are empowered to stop guys like this from putting their bare feet everywhere. pic.twitter.com/PCmvd8J2CT
— Em (@grimgrinning) February 2, 2023
This man isn’t just presenting his feet, he’s presenting other parts of himself as well, and he’s resting his foot on another chair in the lounge which means the personal space someone else might use to get comfortable too. Maybe as passengers we don’t deserve better spaces in the airport?
Fifty years ago U.S. airline lounges were just opening up to the masses for a fee, following government rules requiring clear standards of access replacing invitations in order to avoid the appearance of discrimination. But allowing anyone in means allowing anyone in. Still, United Clubs don’t allow outside food, surely clubs can impose minimum standards like ‘no shirt, no shoes, no entry.’
Or enforce a dressy casual code…that will clear out the golden corral crowd.
@John – couldn’t reasonable require a dress code more restrictive than acceptable travel attire. I can see maybe no “wife beaters” but if you think requiring a jacket, long sleeves, etc will work you are mistaken. Will never happen regardless of how many of you (like Gary apparently) long for “good old days”. BTW, I’m almost 65 and retired. I love the fact I can dress casually pretty much anywhere I want to go. I only wear a coat and tie to funerals these days which is how I like it.
On the other hand I agree with basic behavior but really was expected more from the headline (click bait as usual) than a picture of someone sleeping (that really doesn’t bother me and many lounges have recliners in which people can nap) or a guy putting bare feet up. Also, not sure what else Gary is referencing about him letting other stuff hang out. Don’t see that in the photo – maybe Gary has personal experience. If you get triggered by things like this you really need to get a life!
Also…getting sick of unmasked guests coughing all over the food or eating food with their fingers while in line. It’s like people learned nothing and went back to all their nasty Pre-COVID habits.
Amen!
As a frequent flyer for many years while I was in business I have recognized the changes in attire that is being worn by the traveling public. Since I was on business I tried to maintain the same attire that I would if I were making a sales call or meeting with a client. One observation is that for those who were traveling on a vacation those folks seemed to dress in the manner of their vacation. Those heading towards the ski slopes had full attire while others heading to a beach location less attire. Now retired after flying about forty (40) weeks a year on business I do dress in a very much less formal fashion just for the pure relaxation and comfort. The main change I have seen is that civility has left the building. Being friendly, courteous and at times helpful has become a thing of the past. When traveling in China I would watch as throngs of passengers would rush the gate to enter the plane or stand up before the plane had landed so as to get to the front first. This process seems to now have moved its way to many society’s.
Most airport lounges are not that relaxing. Plus, as others have referenced, basic rules of etiquette and decorum are frequently missing.
@John, thank you. Quantas lounges are strict with dress codes and I’m sure there must be a tactful way to create a sign that says, basically, “no gross behavior allowed.”
Possibly “Smart, casual dress preferred, and PLEASE no bare feet” would be a good place to start.
@Larry – will never wear a mask unless absolutely mandated by law and I love the fact it bothers you so much. That will make me linger more around the buffet and other common service areas. Anything to trigger a “masked man” is a good thing! if you are so paranoid either don’t fly or don’t go into a lounge where you know you are in the minority wearing a stupid mask.
I agree about requiring shoes to be worn. The travelling public seems to think it’s ok to remove shoes and put feet up on other seats, armrests and so on. I have also noticed this on a ferry I regularly travel on. I once asked a fellow passenger to remove her bare feet from my seat and she refused! I had to give up my seat and walk around.
Attire and conduct shall be consistent with the intended use of this facility. The operator of any facility (including an airport lounge) has the right to establish house rules . . . which include appropriate attire and conduct. In establishing and enforcing those house rules, the operator will have to choose whether to 1) alienate the slob (which might attract other customers) or 2) acquiesce to the slob (which might drive away other customers). It’s a business decision.
We’re not talking about returning to the good old days. It doesn’t have to be “smart” casual. It can be “relaxed” casual. But, it should not be the “anything goes, slob” look.
Attire? Behavior? Agreed.
But how about Hell-spawned brats? Which seen to infest too lounges these days.
I wonder how much DELTA is paying GaryLeff to publish all the lies about the other much better Airlines than Delta
I think common courtesy and common sense are not so common. People act like they are lounging at home or something. From the person who rushes to buffet as soon as something is replenished and takes most of it to the person who rests their feet (shoes on or off doesn’t matter) on the table, it takes away all the idea of “membership has its privileges” if you know what I mean.
The feet propped on the small table in from of the chair was the last straw for me. I almost said something to the guy, but then thought, I might cause a scene if it doesn’t go well. So I went and told the attendant and they went and told the guy not to put his feet on the table.
Just goes to show you money doesn’t always equal class…..just watch reality tv! 🙂
Yeah @Retired Gambler.
It’s all aboit how much misery you can create in others, right?
Wait, here’s some kids fingers you can grind your bootheeel into.
The ratio of outrage to actual occurrences seems outsized on every one of these posts, whether covering lounges, airports, or flights. I spend way too much time in Delta and Centurion lounges and rarely notice bad behavior despite the crowds. I also accept that lounges are but one step removed from the unwashed masses of the concourse, not some 5-star luxury panacea. What I do notice is the unwavering professionalism of the staff, especially in ATL, and for that I am thankful.
Airport lounges: where people who know nothing about luxury go to feel luxurious. It’s like Las Vegas buffets– you’ll never find quality people at them. I’ve avoided them since the 90s.
Good luck. Civility and accepted behavior have been on the decline for years. Why would it be any different in the lounges as it is on planes. Add into the mix all the different cultures and their excepted norms, and it’s no wonder. Telling some slob that putting their bare feet on a table is not acceptable might lead to an altercation and who needs that.
I agree with mandating shoes to be worn. But just to keep consistency with sanitation they should also be required to stay on when passing through TSA. Taking your shoes off at TSA lines is a very gross unsanitary practice.
Yeah that’s why I let the attendant do it.
I don’t see what’s wrong with the sleeping Indonesian minister. She didn’t ask for anything special just sleeping on an empty couch
Someone needs to put a stop to the idea that bare feet are acceptable table decor-and that means any person whose experience is diminished substantially by another’s gross behavior. If you don’t choose to stand up and be counted prepare for more of the same slovenly attitude displayed by those who destroy any positive experience you can have when seeking to find respite in the lounge. If anything goes now, wait until “anything goes” culminates in even more incredible offenses.
I like John’s idea of enforcing a dress code. Ties and a jacket for men, and the equivalent for women to weed out the “golden corral” crowd for sure. No refunds either.
Yes we can always expect more of our fellow-humans. But, hello(?), I think it’s time to expect more from the airlines to create an environment that is comfortable, tranquil and healthy for all. Some airlines are able to do that….but not many US carriers can pull it off. (Some can occasionally).
As a road warrior, I still find travel to be exciting, adventurous and full of lots of opportunities to learn some self-awareness. But the lounge experience, for me, is the opposite. I gave up my lounge membership(s) years ago and have not missed the chaos, noise, and general rude energy that seems to pervade the buffet tables of mediocre food. I don’t even bother to visit the Amex lounges, even though I can still bring a guest with the new 2023 changes. And as an elite flyer with one of the majors, I do get lounge access…but hardly use it domestically. The last time I did, I asked myself, “Why did I choose to come in here and add this kind of stress before a flight?” Lol…I did not have a good answer!
I am very fortunate that most of my travel is international biz so I usually have access to some kind of lounge or lounges. I may pop in for a quick bite and a shower but then I grab that snack, find a very isolated gate area with great views and enjoy my time…by myself. #AnIntrovertsDream
No matter what lounge we create for ourselves…let’s all wish each other “safe travels!
@Retired Gambler .. So Larry has a problem with people coughing on the food that we all take and you have a problem with that? You really are a gambler aren’t you? I know that I and every other rational person has a problem with people coughing on food at a buffet too.
I know enough to observe rules of decorum myself and not treat a lounge like my living room. But I couldn’t care less whether others catch a nap if the lounge isn’t busy. What’s completely uncivilized is to take a photo of a sleeping stranger and post it online to shame them.
Start by reducing the overwhelming number of credit card holder’s access. Most of these people don’t have to fly much, if at all. Reserve the lounges for the true road warriors who actually do the flying. I don’t mean get rid of all the credit card benefits but please narrow down the mass numbers of lounge eligible people. Simple. May take some time. But simple.
So Larry just had to insert a mask comment. Larry has nothing to do with masks they are now optional get over it or stay at home. It has to do with common courtesy. Keep you socks on, don’t put your feet on objects other than the floor, don’t take more food than you can eat, use tongs and other utensils when selecting food and cover your mouth when coughing.
It just occurred to me that there’s a solution to both the lounge over-crowding issue and the common decency issue. Roughly half of all individuals do not wash their hands after relieving oneself in the restroom. Even after number two. Think about that for a second. Ban any individual who relieves oneself in the restroom and fails to wash one’s hands.
@Lee…I agree. And don’t cough on the food.
Ties and jackets required in lounges? NO!!! That attire is way too uncomfortable to fly!!! Also, DO NOT prohibit shorts and polos!!! No one should hesitate to remind anyone setting feet, bare or otherwise, on furniture. It is DIRTY behavior!!! USD 59.00 required for a single visit into Newark’s United Club is OUTRAGEOUSLY EXPENSIVE!!!
It’s not so much the rules aren’t there, it’s that they aren’t enforced. For example, here are excerpts from Delta’s Sky Club rules. I’d guess they’d rather not risk losing a credit card customer by actually enforcing them.
Delta reserves the right to refuse admittance to anyone who interferes with the business-like atmosphere of the Delta Sky Club or appears to be intoxicated…. Attire while in a Delta Sky Club must be in keeping with good taste and a dignified atmosphere.
My standard attire for flying is a polo shirt and clean, relatively new jeans in excellent condition (usually black). And I feel overdressed in a United Club, especially in summer, where a third of the people inside there are fat men with shorts. Establish and enforce business casual dress for lounges. No need for suit jacket and tie, but at least wear something you wouldn’t be ashamed of wearing for work.
To all who comment..! Apparently lacking manners is a common problem today. I have been flying for almost 50 years! It used to be a pleasure. Today it reminds me of cattle being herded into stalls! I am of the opinion that not everyone is entitled. But our country, and our liberal laws seem to dictate that we have become a socialist contry. Our Capitalistic society seems to care about profits more than about standards! I for one, would like to see the elimination of the masses thinking about entitlement. If you can’t afford it than take alternative transportation. Airlines should be able to make profits based on sound principles. Low cost carriers should not be in the cut throat business.
“The public” has spoken loud and clear over the past years. They want to look like slobs, and they will look like slobs. They’re everywhere, all the time. They enjoy lounging around in their jammies with bare feet … it’s comfortable and, equally as important, offensive to many of us. The slobs like that. While I certainly would not advocate a dress shirt and tie for men, there are some basic rules that could be promulgated and enforced. But there you have it. Easy to publish the rules.
But WHO will enforce the rules? Think about it … the slobs already have, and they know they don’t have to look decent anywhere. They’re perfectly willing to create a scene, yelling and stomping around just to get their way. No airline is going to waste a penny on this kind of non-revenue-producing activity. And no line employee is paid enough to put the slobs in their place.
I’d agree with many of the commenters and Larry that civility has dropped over the years. It’s a mirror of the sea change in what’s happening in our society. Generally, the notion is that rules are for other people; if I can do it, I’ll do it regardless of how it impacts anyone else; and etiquette is only for old folks. People on loud zoom or phone calls, kids on noisy video games, adults flossing their teeth, picking their noses, using chairs to store their luggage. It’s all loathsome. Some clubs are no longer a respite for the weary traveler. The exception would be first class lounges (i.e. AA Flagship and the overseas first class lounges). So, if you can afford it, you can experience the good old days of lounges by flying international first class. Otherwise, grin and bear it since its not getting any better. The advent of gaining access by having a certain credit card or priority pass were probably the first nails in the coffin. The next few nails were pounded in by people who yell and scream on airplanes and other places simply because they can.
How about we kick out every loud phone talking “businessman” in a cheap suit?
Declinig decorum in all age groups is on parallel with a loss of emotional intelligence or just an exponential decline in basic awareness of both human interaction and your surrounding environment.
If you think it’s ok to remove your shoes and remove your socks in a public space because you feel entitled to be comfortable while ignoring the common acts of courtesy; you are indeed a despicable offensive self centered human being. This kind of behavior is accelerating and represents on a wider scale a failing society that is increasingly insensitive, unsympathetic and lacking empathy.
It’s not ok. It will get worse and unless rules are created to wake people up to decorum and common courtesy peoples social behaviors will continue to decline and will instigate conflict.
Wake up!
I feel like there is a very obvious step to at least reduce some of the trash people you see in the clubs. Stop giving out one time use passes with low level credit cards, and stop selling one time single use passes at the door. There is a direct connection between when they started allowing easy cheap access to anyone anytime and when the level of clientele went downhill. They also greatly add to the overcrowding situation and all around don’t know how to act right. Also, “retired gambler” seems like a perfect example of the current club lounge trash we would all like to see less of. Anyone who has no issue with people fingering and coughing on food and who is obviously very aggressive and hostile towards people who choose to wear a mask, which in no way affects him personally, is not someone I want to deal with in the club or on a flight for that matter. I really don’t understand why someone is so angry and triggered by seeing someone else wearing a mask. I don’t choose to wear one anymore outside of a medical setting but I respect and have no problem with others who still choose to.
How many of the people crowding the clubs are paying members or have credit cards with annual fees which include membership? I mean are these the barefoot and unwashed ones crowding the clubs? Or could they be the people who buy a daily pass the one or two times a year that they fly? Can the clubs stop selling daily passes or is that too lucrative?
The highest up my list is no cheap people… no credit card milers, no discount business fare holders, no grabbing a days worth of food from the buffet or starting the holiday with as much free booze as you can drink, no cheap suitcases and dirty old shoes, lounge hopping and snapping selfies, stuffing anything complimentary into their bag.
Do I begrudge a lounge napper no, because the airline probably delayed her and refused to provide a hotel and any decent lounge should be sufficiently uncrowded and provide a dedicated quiet area with space/loungers to nap.
I can agree that hygiene, and sanitation, are concerns. I can also agree that consideration for each other’s space, and comfort is important. I do not think that airplane attire should be specified as formal, or business-attire, though. Flying has changed. It’s no longer just a luxury, but a necessity, for many. People fly to get to specialized medical facilities, to see loved ones who are on death’s door, to rush back and forth between family and work, for military leave, births, to perform surgeries, or the red-eye. They also are sometimes just exhausted passengers going from A to B. Let it go. The exclusivity, and formality, of the old days are gone.
At all comes down to this.. no one(or at least 90% of the worlds population)have absolutely no respect for each other anymore. Call it entitlement or just plain “not raised correctly by their parents”, it’s so bad now. Road rage, plane rage, internet rage, theirs rage everywhere.. I’m 60 and hate the way this world is these days. My wife and I stay as far away from people as possible now and you will never catch us in an airport or on a plane any longer. I miss the good old days of my youth and respect.
What I’ve seen (even more post-covid) is the amount of children that run wild in lounges while the selfish parents just sit back and let them… That’s more offensive to me than activewear.
Space is king. If lounges can’t provide it, I’ll find an empty gate to make my call and not be exposed to the unruly and selfish behavior justifiably criticized in these comments. My lounge experience is obviously different than some. It is a very rare visit where I see obnoxious kids; far more likely is a loud blowhard speaking about his business or some uninteresting personal issue.
Don’t really care about attire. Give me 20 frat bros in shorts, flip flops and t-shirts watching Tik Tok with headphones over one business jagoff in a sport coat and slacks taking meetings on speakerphone. Nobody wants to hear your Microsoft Teams call, put on some damn headphones; lord knows if you’re in an airport lounge, you can afford them!
Civility? Ever watch Customer Wars on A&E? Enough said there.
Dress Code? Sure…everyone NOT dressed like they’re ready to mow the lawn can get in. (Hmmm…come to think of it…there’s your solution for lounge overcrowding!)
In all seriousness, I am amazed sometimes at the people in the lounge who – somehow – have the right cc or status to get in. But, just think about it….what must be going out out in the terminal if it’s like this in the “private” lounges???
I fly about 5 or 6 times a year and I always wear shorts and a light weight polo. Airports and airplanes are always way too hot and I don’t want to be drenched in sweat for the next 6 hours. Of course I keep my shoes on in the lounge. But I’m not going to sweat in a coat and tie so you can remember the good old 1960’s. For reference: I’m 5’9″, weigh 165 and in my 30’s….So not an overweight old dude.
Definitely crack down on the no bare feet and things like that. I totally understand the Golden Corral crowd – everyone seems to have figured out they can pay $39 for all the fried food and Bud Lights they can drink.
But as someone who sits quietly in lounges, minds his own business and works on his laptop, takes only the food I plan on eating (and not 3 plates of deserts), and doesn’t drink anyways – it’s a little ridiculous and backwards to expect more formal attire. Yes it would likely clear out more of the riff-raff, but there’s definitely people in suits who are problems in their own way. I’ve seen plenty sitting at the bar all day sucking down drinks with 2-3 shots each, yelling on their phone – which has the sound turned up so you can hear TAP TAP TAP BWIP as they type and talk way too loudly about quarterly reports…and then yelling at the football game on TV. Also equally disruptive, even if not as gross as bare body parts on communal furniture. I’ve met plenty of casually dressed yet polite and respectful frequent travelers at the food bar who were much more pleasant to be around. Hell, before one flight while mourning in my head over some bad news, a nice older outspoken lady somehow decided to talk to me and really brighten my day. Mr hotshot CEO with his football game and ROI reports never would’ve done more than leave me worrying about the general happiness of the human race over subtly trying to prove their wealth.
I frequently wear a sweatsuit when I fly (and visit a lounge) because I prefer to be comfortable and have a shot at taking a nap on the flight. I don’t need to be in uncomfortable dress clothes and flopping all over adjusting myself constantly. Flying gets stressful enough without feeling like I’m attending a dinner party.
I agree with Vira. Motives for flying are far more varied now. Let’s be tolerant.
Time to cull the cattle. The basic entry should include an area with furniture suitable for a frat house where 3 seat man spread & bare feet are acceptable. Include a keg of cheap beer & pizza. Upcharge rooms will require business casual. With collared shirts, covered mid drift and legs. Much like a country club you must have an account for the services you choose. Upcharge areas will have good adult furnishings and better food. This small extra cost could weed out the boorish behavior