Air travel is more accessible today than ever before, but a space in which a hundred—or several hundred—complete strangers spend several hours together still requires at least a basic degree of consideration. Most rules of airplane etiquette are actually very simple: don’t do to others what you wouldn’t want them to do to you.

Some of these rules are not written down anywhere, nobody will throw you off the aircraft for breaking them, and the cabin crew probably won’t even mention them. Still, following them can make boarding faster, the journey more pleasant, and disembarkation feel a little less like the start of a 100-metre sprint.

The aircraft has stopped. You still don’t need to stand up

One of the great mysteries of passenger aviation remains the question of what exactly passengers expect to happen if they stand up 0.7 seconds after the aircraft reaches its parking position.

The answer is usually—nothing. The doors are not open yet, the fasten seat belt sign is still illuminated, and the 15 rows in front of you are also waiting to get off. Standing hunched beneath the overhead bin will not get you to the terminal ten minutes earlier.

Wait until the fasten seat belt sign is switched off, then stand up when the rows ahead of you begin to clear. There will be less congestion, less pushing and fewer other people’s backsides at head height for passengers who are still seated.

And no, having a connecting flight does not give you the ability to pass through 120 people and a closed aircraft door. If your connection really is critical, speak to the cabin crew.

Boarding Group 4 is not a secret name for Group 2

If an airline organises boarding by groups, the number of your group actually means something. If Group 2 has just been called and your boarding pass says Group 5, there is no need to block the area in front of the gate in the hope that you will somehow quietly evolve into Group 2.

Many airlines now explicitly organise boarding by zones or groups, calling passengers according to their assigned category.

Stand slightly to the side, let the people whose turn it is pass, and join the queue when your group is called. Boarding will be calmer for everyone, including you.

A small backpack does not need a penthouse

Overhead bins are among the most sought-after pieces of real estate in European aviation. So don’t spread your small backpack, handbag, coat, laptop and duty-free bag across the bin as if you have just booked an apartment.

Smaller bags and backpacks that fit the required dimensions should be placed under the seat in front of you, leaving the overhead bins primarily for cabin suitcases and larger pieces of hand luggage.

This is not merely a matter of etiquette. IATA states that cabin baggage, depending on its size and the passenger’s seat location, should be stored either under the seat or in the overhead bins, while KLM, for example, explicitly requires smaller personal bags to be placed under the seat in front of the passenger.

Aircraft manufacturers invest considerable sums in increasing overhead-bin capacity precisely because insufficient space for hand luggage slows down boarding. Airbus says larger bins reduce the workload of cabin crew and make boarding and disembarkation easier.

In other words, keeping your backpack under the seat may cost you a few centimetres of comfort, but it could mean that someone else’s cabin suitcase does not have to end up in the aircraft hold.

A closed overhead bin usually means: don’t open me

During boarding, a closed overhead bin is usually closed because it is full or because the cabin crew closed it for a reason. There is no need to open every single one in search of mythical empty space.

One small Croatian exception to this rule will be familiar to passengers on Croatia Airlines’ A220s: during boarding, the bins may sometimes be closed even before they are full. In that case, of course, follow the crew’s instructions.

Your suitcase, your biceps

Cabin crew are not a baggage-loading service.

If, because of age, injury, a medical condition or another objective reason, you cannot lift your bag yourself, the crew will assist as far as procedures allow. But if you can carry your suitcase through half the airport, you can probably lift it the final 40 centimetres into the overhead bin as well.

Some airlines state this quite openly. KLM, for example, warns that cabin crew generally cannot assist passengers with placing hand luggage in overhead bins, except in certain exceptional circumstances. If your bag is so heavy that you cannot lift it, perhaps the real question is whether it should have been hand luggage in the first place.

The middle seat is punishment enough. At least give them the armrests

The window-seat passenger got the window. The aisle-seat passenger got the aisle.

The passenger in the middle got—two strangers. That is why one of the oldest unwritten rules of airplane etiquette says that both inner armrests belong to the person in the middle seat. It is not a law. It is not an EASA regulation. But civilisation sometimes rests on precisely such small things.

The seat can recline. That doesn’t mean you need to launch it backwards

If your seat reclines, you have every right to use that function. But there is another person behind you—perhaps 195 centimetres tall, perhaps eating, working on a laptop or holding a cup of coffee. So don’t suddenly fire your seatback into its fully reclined position without warning.

A glance behind you and a simple question asking whether it is okay to recline a little takes only a few seconds. During meal service, it is particularly considerate to return your seat to a more upright position, regardless of whether the crew has already asked you to do so. Your right to recline and consideration for the person behind you can exist at the same time.

If you have the window seat, you haven’t bought the view as well

The passenger by the window logically has control over the window shade, particularly when the sun is shining directly into their face or onto their screen. But during a beautiful approach over the Alps, the Croatian coast or a brightly lit city at night, it is worth remembering that the other two people in your row might also like to look outside for a moment.

You don’t need to spend the entire flight glued to the window, but don’t completely block it with your body either, as though you are observing a top-secret military installation.

Naturally, if the cabin crew requests a particular position of the window shade for safety or operational reasons, their instructions take priority over etiquette.

Shoes stay on your feet

While you are on an aircraft, keep your footwear on.

Walking barefoot around the cabin is not particularly hygienic for you, and spending a three-hour flight a few centimetres from your bare feet is not necessarily your neighbour’s lifelong dream either. On long flights, it is perfectly understandable to want to get more comfortable. Bring clean socks and slippers. There is a reason many airlines provide them in premium cabins.

And especially: do not go to the toilet barefoot. For your own peace of mind, it may be best not to analyse too closely what might be on that floor.

The lavatory is not your private wellness centre

An aircraft lavatory has only a few square metres of space, one sink and potentially 150 users. It was not designed for a 20-minute beauty retreat.

Do what you need to do, leave it tidy and allow the next passenger to use it. Wipe away water around the sink after use and, if you have made a mess, clean up after yourself as much as possible.

An exception may perhaps be granted if you are travelling in Emirates First Class on an A380 and have access to a shower. In that case, you are at least technically closer to a wellness centre.

Headphones exist for a reason

TikTok, a football match, a children’s cartoon, Netflix, a video call or your friend’s ten-minute voice message are not part of the entertainment programme for the rest of the cabin.

If something makes noise, use headphones. The same applies to video games, children’s tablets and music. Just because you like a particular song does not mean the rest of your row agreed to become the audience.

The aisle is not a dressing room

When you board the aircraft and find your seat, try to get out of the aisle as quickly as possible.

If you are going to take headphones, a tablet, charger, book, water bottle, jumper, laptop and three magazines out of your suitcase, ideally you should have thought about that before a queue of 40 passengers forms behind you. Prepare the things you will need during the flight before boarding, or take them out quickly. Then stow your luggage, sit down and allow everyone else to board.

Faster use of the bins and less handling of baggage is not insignificant: limited cabin baggage space is one of the reasons airlines sometimes have to gate-check bags on full flights.

The crew are not your servants

Cabin crew are there first and foremost for passenger safety, and then to provide service. “Please”, “thank you” and a normal tone of voice work just as well at 11,000 metres as they do on the ground.

EASA itself highlights mutual respect between passengers and cabin crew as one of the foundations of a pleasant and safe journey, while ignoring crew safety instructions is no longer a question of etiquette—it is a safety issue.

You may not like the fact that your favourite sandwich is unavailable, that you have to stow your bag, or that service has temporarily been suspended because of turbulence. The person telling you this is usually not the person who made that decision.

When you leave, make the seat look at least a little better than you found it

You do not need to clean the aircraft. There is a ground team for that—or, depending on the airline’s organisation, the cabin crew.

But you can pick up your chocolate wrapper, empty bottle, tissue and leftovers from your meal and hand them to the crew or leave them neatly prepared for collection. Lower the armrests, place the seat belt back on the seat instead of leaving it on the floor, and check that you have taken all your belongings.

Such small gestures make preparing the cabin for the next flight easier. And for airlines with short turnaround times, every minute saved helps the next passengers depart on time.

And one rule that is not etiquette at all: during an evacuation, everything stays behind

If you ever find yourself in a situation where the crew orders an evacuation, forget the laptop, the passport in the overhead bin, the Louis Vuitton bag and the wheeled suitcase. Leave the aircraft without your luggage.

In 2026, IATA launched the “Save a Life, Not a Bag” campaign, warning that retrieving luggage during an evacuation can slow down other passengers, cause people to fall and even damage evacuation slides. This is no longer about courtesy. It can become a matter of someone’s life.

In the end, the cabin is not your living room

Perhaps you paid €39 for your ticket, perhaps €3,900. Perhaps the flight lasts 35 minutes, perhaps 13 hours. Either way, you are sharing the cabin with a large number of other people. You do not have to talk to them. You do not have to be cheerful. You do not have to enjoy the flight.

You only need to remember that your comfort ends where another passenger’s unnecessary discomfort begins.

Wait your turn. Move your backpack out of the overhead bin if it fits under the seat. Give the middle-seat passenger their armrests. Don’t walk around barefoot. Use headphones. Pick up your rubbish. Say “thank you” to the crew. And after landing, remain seated for those terrifying extra 30 seconds until the seat belt sign goes out.

Nobody will write an article about you because of it. And on an aircraft, that is usually a sign that you behaved perfectly well.