Plane Passengers To Your Right

Are we safe on planes? Who is the passenger sitting next to me? We used to be scared of take-off, when the plane finally lifts itself up. Fear of flying in this century also means being scared of something similar to road rage.

In November 2022, Indian media reported that Shankar Mishra, allegedly peed on a woman, who was also in business class in an Air India flight from New York to New Delhi. What the media has dubbed ‘pee-gate’ is one example of how passengers are getting dangerous.

Because of cellphones, we see passengers attacking airline staff and other passengers. We leave home angry and transfer it to passengers next door. We can fly business class I guess because folks in there are calm, since they eat different food, use napkins and real forks and knives, not plastic cutlery like us. I know. I was once bumped.

No. Wealthy folks are also angry. They just manage it better because they have shrinks. On the plane rage should not happen. Passengers on my left and right are not responsible for my hand luggage, which could be my loved one leaving me for an Instagram model; kids that don’t comb their hair; the bank repossessing the house; the young graduate getting the job I have been doing for ten years or seeing my neighborhood change color.

There is a solution for plane rage, get your own plane like Drake the Canadian rapper, producer, businessman and all things money. If not, we just have to manage our anger, starting with switching off the phone.

Nonqaba waka Msimang

Executive Blogger