What are your Travel Pet Peeves?

We've all experience rude and inappropriate behavior while traveling. I'd like to hear what bugs you the most about other's behavior. This thought was spared by Christopher Elliott, Travel Columnist, who earlier this month posted a list of 6 things you should never do when you're away. In it he tells the following story:

Thinking of throwing a tantrum the next time things don’t go your way when you travel? Consider what happened to Gary Zeune before you do.

“Dammit,” he overheard the passenger in front of him scream at a Southwest Airlines ticket agent in Columbus, Ohio, “I have to get to Chicago.”

The agent politely asked him to calm down, assured him that profanity wouldn’t get him on the flight he wanted, and offered to add him to a standby list. All of which only appeared to make him angrier, unleashing yet another torrent of salty language.

“The ticket agent asked him for his credit card,” remembers Zeune. “And he gets a big smile, thinking he’s going to get on the flight. Then she says, ‘Sir, you’re not flying Southwest today. Go fly someone else.’ And she refunds his money.”

One of my peeves is the rudesness of some passengers to airline and hotel agents who are unable to give them exactly what they want. I was recently standing behind a passenger for Northwest who was demanding an upgrade on a flight because he was "a Gold Elite Customer." There were no seats available and the more the very polite and professional agent at the counter explained this, the passenger got more angry. He finally left in a huff, as if the agent was responsible for creating seats on the plane that are not there. His rudeness -- and frankly harassment -- of the agent was inexcusable.I was really annoyed by the behavior of the passenger in front of me and had great empathy for what the agent had to endure. I was also impressed with her continued professionalism in light of the passengers rudeness.

I followed with my stand by request as politely as possible, knowing that I had already been told by another agent that there were no available seats on my flight. "Well, I think I have a seat here for you." And, she handed over my (coach) boarding pass. After she gave me the boarding pass I complemented her on dealing with the previous passenger and told her that I am an agent and know what she had to deal with. Her response? -- "Bless you."

Mr. Elliott advised the follow 6 actions should be avoided:

1. Threaten violence - Bad idea, and it usually has the opposite effect than the one you intended.
2. Yell - Raising your voice is almost never an effective way of getting what you want.
3. Drinking too much - Alcohol and travel don't mix and you can be denied boarding.
4. Rude or inconsiderate of others - Selfish behavior gets you nowhere.
5. Leaving your manners at home - Somehow, travelers think the rules do't apply when they are way, especially those Elite level passengers.
6. Act like a jerk - You've met them elsewhere, but being trapped on a plane, train, or bus with them can be intolerable.

One of my other travel peeves is people that talk on their cell phones in a manner that everyone around them can hear them. Frankly, that fits into the #4 and #6 category above -- being rude and acting like a jerk. Maybe if we continue to dialog about these behaviors, we can raise awareness.

So, tell me what bugs you about others when traveling....