Bottom 5: 4th of December 2013

At the end of each month I´ll give you a small resume of the top 5 and bottom 5 passengers´ nationalities to work and fly with according to the results of the poll you may find above in this Blog

1) Indians: the irony of dirt is that it can literally pail up onto more dirt. That is what is happening to many of Indian travelers due to the lack of personal hygiene and it´s not a minor issue. For the past months this subject has been a very common issue among fellow crew and frequent travelers, why? Because the simple fact of travelling 13 hours with someone who smells like a mix of dirty feet with concentrated curry and an extra spice of rotten onion it´s somehow a problematic point in the agenda. Personal hygiene issues come hand by hand with an increase rate and chance of catching a virus or a disease, for example: gastroenteritis or more commonly “gastro-flew”. That is what I caught and for the past 4 days I have been the “Exorcist” in its fullest extent: no, unfortunately I didn´t walk like a spider onto the roof, it would have been great to spook out HR but I didn´t get the Hollywood version. By the way, not only I got “infected” but also 2 more of my coworkers. So I was the “Exorcist” while the 2 others were “The Walking Dead”. Besides this, please Indians do not play stupid when we ask you kindly for something, as for example: “remove your items from the aisle” or “there is turbulence, please return to your seat”. I perfectly know and understand that they are proud or whatsoever but let me remind you of something: if they play stupid I can play stupid too.

2) Chinese: incredible to believe that Chinese can move with speed and furry of an avalanche. Not only they might carry away whatever it’s on their way but also they seem no to care much about it. When boarding there they go and they don´t care if someone is in the aisle trying to lift its bag into the overhead compartment, they simply keep on their way without caring for their fellow travelers. The worst thing is that they are very use to that and they don´t care about it. Did you know that poor people in China sleep in the street inside of cages? And for them that is very common and extremely ordinary so, what can you expect from someone who sees that as something almost normal? The bottom line is that sometimes they might treat crew as if they were something disposable and without feelings. Behavior to other passengers? 0, 0 tolerance, 0 respect and 0 dignity.

3) Pakistan: women are a second class citizen and that is it. For the past months many of many friends and female co workers have been treated by certain passengers in an almost abusive way. The fact of our bottoms getting accidentally poked by forks or passengers trying to overcome a crew in the galley is something that is almost a frequent coin in the buss. Even so pursers and SFS tend to protect us against does situations many of us tend to live those kind of experiences. Not very long time ago I was placed in First Class during the whole flight because the SFS saw how a Pakistani passenger accidentally touched my low back. Yes, we tend to be protected among our own but many times it´s very hard for many of us. Towards passengers they can be or really passive or extremely rude, mocking and annoying others just because they are “bored”.

4) Nigerians: something they really tend to do and it´s more than annoying to other passengers is the fact that they tend to smash other passenger items in the overhead compartment with their baggage. Not only they might carry an awful amount of weight in too many bags, but also they fill up the bin with their things and that is it. If you kindly request to remove some of the items and place at least one bag below the seat in front of them, they would have the same reaction as if you would have slap his face. Personal hygiene: red flags – 911 Dove come and save us. This is also an issue for this Nationality as it seems that they don´t care much about it. Personally I believe that they just don´t know what hygiene is, as far as I know potable water is not a frequent thing over there so somehow the fact that they don´t know how to properly bath is kind of reasonable. Nevertheless they seem to be very sensitive when someone tell them “no” or “can´t” as they tend to be a little bit aggressive with their response, how? They give you that particular look of: I´m going to kill you while you sleep. So each time I kindly request a Nigerian passenger to remove his items from the exit row I get that look. Or if a passenger refuses to swap seats, they get that look.

5) Brazilians: grey zone. This Nationality may be pure Carnival of joy or over too much joy. During flights they tend to be very responsive towards crew but sometimes they try to play stupid in their own way to obtain their personal benefit, how they do that? Seduction (the most powerful weapon of all times). Nevertheless, they tend to be somehow calm during flights and if they are in a good mood they interact with others making the journey far more comfortable. 

(I don´t own the above picture)