The One Spot On A Plane You Should Never Put Your Carry-On, According To TikTok
When it comes to your carry-on luggage, most airlines will allow you to bring one small piece of luggage (like a small rolling suitcase) and one personal item (like a purse, small backpack, or a laptop bag). Because many passengers are bringing these two items into the cabin, that means that space in the overhead compartments can fill up quickly. That's why passengers often line up in front of their gate well before boarding begins, because they just don't want to be the last to board and find that there's no more overhead space to be found. The last one on the airplane might even end up being forced to check their hand luggage and you don't want your laptop to be put in the luggage hold!
It's with that in mind that a TikToker has posted to the video-sharing platform what they call "Airplane Etiquette 101" and it involves a simple courtesy when it comes to putting your luggage in the overhead bins that is an unwritten rule of air travel, but really, it should be a written commandment! TikToker @eye.be.okay posted a short 5-second video of himself on the plane with the text overlay, "Don't place your carry-on in row 8 on your way to row 26." What does that mean? And why has this TikTok gone viral? Let's take a closer look.
Place your carry-on above your seat only
Tiktoker @eye.be.okay's advice might sound controversial, but putting your carry-on above a row where you're definitely not sitting could be the worst idea in terms of airplane etiquette. Considering his video has been liked more than 19,000 times, and the comments section is aflame with more than 800 comments, he's definitely on to something. Putting your carry-on in an overhead bin not above your own seat inconveniences the people actually sitting underneath your bag, because there's a very real chance they might have nowhere to put their rolling suitcase now which definitely won't fit under their seat. By taking their spot, you could be viewed by all passengers around you as selfish and self-serving. In fact, one Reddit user dared to suggest your carry-on belongs in the rows ahead of you, and was not spared the wrath of airplane-etiquette-warriors, who reminded the original poster, "Better yet, put it in the spot assigned to your seat," and "Imagine putting your luggage in someone's spot so they have to put their luggage behind their seat and slow the disembarking process." One commenter even pointed out some carriers allow passengers to disembark from the front and rear of the airplane, making that plan useless.
Keep your personal item under the seat in front of you
There are more TikTokers who have very real opinions when it comes to people hogging overhead bins. Another user Daniel Bennett went viral for saying that passengers who put their personal item under the seat in front of them are "a good person and like aware of their surroundings," however if they put their personal item next to their carry-on luggage in the overhead bin, taking up space that could be used by someone else's rolling suitcase, forcing that person to check their luggage and then wait at the baggage carousel to collect their luggage, then "they are the worst type of person and they deserve a jail sentence for life." That may sound like an extreme consequence of being "the worst type of person," but it seems legions of people agree with Bennett, because his video has more than 7.7 million views, and has more than 5,100 comments.
If this is all news to you, you might want to brush up on the other unwritten rules of airplane etiquette, like not reclining your seat if the person behind you is very tall, not blasting the music in your headphones so everyone can hear, and definitely don't have an absolute meltdown mid-air or smash a laptop on someone's head if your romantic relationship falls apart. Those last two might sound obvious, but hey, stranger things have happened.