In Flight Overall, you have 3 jobs to do in flight.

1) Sit back.

2) Relax

3) Enjoy yourslef, as long as you’re not being a nuissance to those around you.

Let’s go over these one at a time.

1) Sitting back.

Your seat will also have a few controls and ammeneties within reach. One will be a personal overhead reading light you can turn on and off.

One will be a button to signal the flight attendants that you need help. Don’t go hitting the button every 5 minutes or anything, but if you need help, that’s the button to push.

There will usually be a small air conditioneng vent above your seat that can be closed or redirected.

There will USUALLY be a button on your armrest that lets you recline your seat slightly. Remember to keep your seat fully upright during takeoff and landing. If you decide to recline, please do it slowly and don’t slam your seat back into the person behind you.

There will be a small fold-out tray table either on the back of the seat in front of you or in your armrest. You can use it to hold your food and drink, or as a laptop stand if you want to get some work done.

2) Relaxing

On many airplanes these days, there will be a small TV screen on the back of the seat in front of you. It will either be touch-screen or have a small remote built into the seat. This is your in-flight entertainment system! It will have a selection of movies, TV shows, live TV (so you can watch sports while you fly!), etc. You can also follow your flight on a map! So plug in your headphones (Most planes don’t have Bluetooth yet, but that will be changing over the next few years), and watch a movie!

If your flight is longer than an hour or so, there will likely be snacks and beverages. On most flights in the US, soft drinks will be available for free, with alcoholic beverages for sale. There will also likely be some small snacks. If your flight is longer than 1000 miles, there might be meal options available eithter for free or for purchase. If it’s an international flight, it’s more likely to be free, but check with your airline first.

For food and drink service, the flight attendants will come through the cabin with carts, and serve one row at a time. Please keep your arms and legs out of the aisle when they are passing through, so you don’t get bumped by the drink cart.

3) Not being a nuissance

Let’s talk about airplane etiquitte.

If you’re listening to something, use headphones. If you’re having a conversation, keep it quiet-ish. Some people around you are proably trying to sleep. Don’t kick the seat in front of you.

Don’t put your foot through the armrest hole of the seats in front of you. Nobody wants your foot on their armrest.

Quoting Jim Jeffries, “When you’re on an airplane there’s a thing called plane etiquette and it goes like this: window gets an armrest and a wall, middle gets two arm rests, aisle gets an armrest and a little bit of extra leg. We’re not f***ing animals. We live in a society.”

If you’re sitting in the middle or window seat, and someone in your row gets up to use the bathroom, it might be a good idea to get up at the same time. That way, they aren’t having to stand up and sit down a bunch.

When you go to the bathroom, lock the door. This will 1) save your fellow passengers from accidentally walking on you, 2) turn on an “occupied” sign outside the bathroom so they aren’t tempted to barge in on you, and 3) turn on the light inside the bathroom.

Please flush when you’re done.

Don’t flush diapers, pads, or anything aside from bodily waste or toilet paper. Put everything else in the trash can. This shouldn’t need to be said, but according to airline maintainance people, it keeps happening.

A note about turbulence:

90% of flights will be incredibly smooth. But every now and then, there will be a bumpy ride. Everything is going to be ok. You might want to hold on to your drink instead of letting it sit on the tray table, but you’re going to be fine. In the entire history of passenger flight, no commercial aircraft has ever crashed because of turbulence.

Pretty soon, the you will be getting ready for landing!