The length of the flights, I look at my watch when I get on the plane and usually groan and say I'm not going to do this again. Then I can't stop looking at my watch and saying to myself another ll hrs, then 10 etc.
The holidays up to now have been worth the long flights but I don't know how many more years I can face those endless hours of uncomfortable boredom.

I know exactly what you mean Judith. Unless I have used airmiles and a redemption voucher, I am bored to tears with long haul flights. OH loves the whole thing though.

Getting loaded on the plane early and you think great we will get there early and then be told some lame excuse that there will be an hour delay before you can take off, We had this in march at Birmingham when they said there was fog, I could see the lights way past the end of the runway and the bit of mist had been there since the afternoon before, So we were trapped in our seats for an extra hour when at least if they had not loaded us up we could have walked around. I think they wanted extra room inside

and here are the flight attendants' pet hates.

shrimper
I have stopped saying to OH that at least we have boarded on time- its then guaranteed that we are still on the runway an hour later

I'm a bored passenger. I do try (honest) to keep myself occupied. I have Kindle, Ipod, nibbles etc & I do really well until about the last hour then I clock watch.

What makes it worse is when the Captain announces 'We're starting our decent............' Well I expect us to be down in 5 mins only for him to announce "We'll be landing in 30 mins" or something. Oh.... the disappointment, and how that 30mins (or whatever) drags..........

I've only done one long haul flight - to Florida, - so I'm whinging about 3-4 hour flights.

Can't really see myself as a global jet-setter - unless I win the lottery and can afford a private jet that will stop off, the minute I'm bored

Fiona wrote:

and here are the flight attendants' pet hates. :D

To be fair they are being reasonable I doubt any of us would like our workplace being treated like that or put up with people behaving in that way .

I used to find it all very exciting but now it's a bit boring , I find it easy to sit back and relax probably because I'm tired , I like to work up to the last minute to make sure everything done and then I find I can relax knowing all is ok.
I'm finding that 5 hours is the max limit in cattle , if I fly over that it has to be premium or biz if it wasn't I just wouldn't do it .
I think the thing that irritates me most is very loud people , I don't want to hear their conversation when they could easily just talk to the person next to them instead of shouting .

The charges for all drinks. Always seems very expensive to me.

1. The crew making VERY loud announcements about passing thru the cabin selling trinkets (perfumes and gifts) - @ 2:00am on a night flight!!!

2. The people who manage to smuggle enormous hand luggage items thru' - and then ram them in the overhead lockers leaving no room for later arrivals.

and 3. As for earlier posters - boarding the plane on time,getting belted up -then the Captain comes on with a story of how busy it is today so we haven't got a slot for x minutes!! No fun on a long distance flight .

PS The link re attendant's pet hates doesn't work for me

I have 4 kids, they behave when we fly, becuase we make them behave. Therefore my pet hate, is people who let their kids 'run' riot on a flight. Kicking back of seats etc etc.

I hate it when someone behind starts licking the back of my seat.
I used to put up with it but after a flight last year when I said to my husband "I wish they would stop kicking my seat" I was tapped on the shoulder by a woman who said it was her baby kicking the seat.
I told her i didnt think babies had size 5 feet! She had both her feet up resting on the back of seat.
Since then I get up,lean over and ask politely if they would stop kicking my seat.If they dont I recline it which i normally dont do.

Mine include:

Kicking the back of the seat, if it goes on for a silly time, I also do as 'Jaytrip' and politily ask if they (or their children) could stop please - usually works.

Loud people on flights, that seem to think it's necessary to shout over to be heard, a bit like the Dom Jolly Mobile phone sketch.

When the flight lands after a standard trip with no issues - a round of applause from the passengers could understand if there was a problem or something but have experienced this a few times now

I get bored flying now....

When I worked for First Choice me and one of my colleagues often used to go on last minute flights to collect lost property that wasn't allowed to be put onto a flight unaccompanied or if there were breakables. We regularly did Portugal, Majorca, Alicante and the odd Cyprus trip.

The beauty of these were we were generally on a standby ticket but would always have permission to travel on the jump seats just in case the flight got fully booked at the last minute.

So I got used to sitting in the cockpit along with the Captain and co-pilot, sharing their lunch and listening to the different beacons we passed over on the headset, as well as learning where each Captain did his turns for the landing on the different routes.

Nowadays, sitting in the fuselage has lost some of its' appeal although the good thing is that our regular trips are less than 3hrs flying time so not much time to get too bored once the drinks have come around a couple of times and we've been fed....

Why on why do people stand in the aisles whilst waiting for the doors to open? When I flew back from Jersey, I got my handluggage from the rack above my seat, and sat on my seat reading the BA magazine whilst people where just randomly standing in the aisles. Still was one of the first people off when the doors opened anyway

nowadays i only do short haul to spain with the LOCOS, but have used BA.

my pet hate is the families that wont pay for priority boarding, are last in the queue, and then expect everyone to shuffle around so that they can sit with their "little angels".
if the Locos would just give them the option to sit down or be off loaded then life would be grand, .i know that parents must sit next to their children, but that does not mean whole families need to be sat together. if they were told "sorry, you did not book priority and there are no seats together, we cannot let you travel on this flight" that problem would disappear in a matter of months

i also hate those who don't pay attention to the safety announcement and those that treat the flight attendants as skivvies.they are there to help you, regardless of the way that some companies seem to treat them as salespeople, and should be treated with respect.

Above all being loaded onto a plane that will sit on the tarmac for an hour happened to us last year .

People who use your seat back as a lever to get out of there seat ,

People who are constantly up and down getting things from the locker,

People who whine and make a big deal of families flying with young children and babies, live and let live I say . besides getting all het up about an unsettled baby wont help calm it down.

Meals on flights less than 5 hours, is there any need? you wont starve. Yes I know it breaks it up but it is a lot of fuss .

I'm lucky in that I can sleep on a plane, and often do, even on relatively short journeys, which is why I usually try and get a window seat so I don't get disturbed by people getting up and down. I have no problem with most children except the seat kickers. I admit I sometimes have to use the back of the seat in front to lever myself up but I don't usually get up until we land and if you have osteoporosis and osteo-arthritis that comes with the territory.

Not serving the meals at a reasonable time on a late flight. First they come round with drinks and snacks to buy, then duty free gifts and then dinner that people have ordered at some ridiculous hour!

A few I can think of but it's more the passengers than the flight; passengers who don't listen and comply with safety anouncements, ie the moment you land and while taxiing to the gate, you hear seat belts being unfastened and some try to get bags from overhead bins before the aircraft has stopped. The announcement is there for a reason and they'll not be able to disembark any quicker as the doors aren't open! People that have window seats then shut the blinds as soon as they sit down for the duration of the flight. I know window seats are good for leaning against the side to sleep, but if you don't want to look out of the window, let someone sit there that does (like me!). Another is the mess some people make in and around their seats. Cabin crew regularly pass through to collect rubbish so why just throw it on the floor? I could go on but better not!!

Darren