How lessons from annoying air travelers can help you get ahead at work

Plane etiquette seems so simple — be spatially aware, don't bother other passengers and follow the instructions of the air crew.

But campaigns and crackdown efforts to quell disruptive behavior suggest it persists.

At first glance, a new book — "How to Avoid Strangers on Airplanes: Survival Guide for the Frequent Business Traveler" — seems to be another attempt to rein in irritating flyers. However, author Brandon Blewett, a frequent business traveler, said there is much to learn from these passengers.

Blewett, head of corporate development for a Virginia-based company, said he wrote the book after seeing parallels between difficulties in his business travel and professional life.

He started by making a list of annoying travel habits, which quickly became too long, he said.

"I realized I could not write about 25 habits," said Blewett. Plus, he didn't want the book to be "a rant about the annoying things that we see when we're on planes or in airports".

So he whittled it down to six — each with thoughts on how travelers can use these situations to progress in their own careers.

"Gate Lice" are passengers who swarm the boarding area before their call time, ignoring boarding zones and blocking gates, he wrote.

Jobs have these people too, he said.

"People block our paths to board even when it's our turn," he wrote. "Other times people outrank us and land seats on flights headed towards career destinations we thought were ours."

Look for ways around these people, said Blewett. His recommendation? The pivot.

Blewett said he learned that early in his career. After graduating from law school during the Great Recession, he took a job as a car valet — a far cry from his goal of becoming a sports agent, he wrote.

"Given the bleak post-juris doctorate job outlook, I pivoted to a one-year MBA program," he wrote. "The school also boasted robust relationships with the firms where I sought tax roles."

He later landed a role at a tax firm, he said.

"What seems like a dead-end might just be a pivot waiting to happen," he wrote.

Airplane etiquette dictates that flyers wear their backpacks on their front rather than their back to prevent inadvertently hitting others, a situation Blewett calls an "Airbus Assault."

But, he said, business travelers should prepare for "smacks" — be it on plane or in their professions — and can use them to become more resilient.

He lists several smacks during this career, from making less money than many of his law school peers to getting passed over for a promotion.

"It took three hard smacks to get me in the door at KPMG, into deals, and into a practice where I could actually obtain useful skills for my long-term career," he wrote.

These passengers are in "Boeing Boardroom Meetings," conducting conference calls at a high-decibel level, often refusing to end their calls and stow away their devices, said Blewett. These are the same people that have the hardest time accepting weather delays.

Difficult people are everywhere, Blewett wrote in the book, whether it's in your office or on your flight.

The best way to handle them, he said, is with "wit, grit, and humility."

He mentions Dolly Parton's infamous interview with Barbara Walters, in which Walters asked if she was a hillbilly.

"She let her work and wit speak speak for themselves. Humor? Check. Self-deprecation? All day. And when none of that worked, she gritted her teeth and kept moving forward," he wrote.

These passengers often participate in what Blewett refers to as "Bin Shoehorning" — ignoring space constraints in overhead compartments and cramming in bags that don't fit. Often, they don't even try to close the door, choosing instead to sit down and pass the burden to air crew to find out.

That can lead to "salmoning," which occurs when flight attendants move bulky bags behind a person's seat, forcing the passenger to go against the flow of departing flyers at the end of the flight.

Such behavior often results from passengers who are "running on empty, acting out of pure exhaustion," Blewett wrote.

Professionals, too, engage in bin-stuffing when they force career goals that are not a good fit. Blewett said he made that mistake but eventually realized that making partner wasn't his calling.

"It took some time to accept this reality — not as long as trying to find your ride at LAX arrivals, but long
enough," he wrote. "Eventually, I took my bag out of the overhead when I knew the bin wasn't going to close."

This category of traveler is regarded as the most disruptive, he said. It refers to passengers who irritate others, from grabbing the back of the seat when they get up, to drinking too much, said Blewett.

People are far less inclined to help these passengers, wrote Blewett. And in business, help from your network can make a huge difference.

"Willingness to be a good seat neighbor, meant that my network, my cabin of passengers, was willing to help me where I needed to go," according to Blewett.

The "Eager Exiter" is present on almost every flight, Blewett said. They are the flyers who stand up the moment the seatbelt sign turns off, he said.

But rushing doesn't get you to a destination much sooner, he said.

He recounted a story of a passenger who asked travelers if he could cut the security line to get to his boarding gate faster.

"In his rush to get through, he forgot to take the electronics out of his pocket, setting off the detectors," he wrote. "Ironically, we wound up clearing security at the same time."

Blewett said this was similar to his career journey, which included getting a law degree yet ending up in another profession.

"The journey itself was kind of fun — in retrospect, of course," he wrote. "There's a lot to be grateful for, and looking back, I can see why each step mattered."