Flying Etiquette

As my flight from Sicily prepared to land last night, a particularly enthusiastic stewardess asked me to put my flip-flops back on. I vaguely remember wondering whether this was really necessary, but having spent the last week exploring the volcanic Aeolians (sensational, by the way), I was still in a chilled-out island mode so I slipped them on with a sleepy smile.

Such obedience to authority was not on display when a “well dressed businessman” was arrested last night after refusing to turn off his laptop for the final approach of his Qantas flight from Melbourne to Sydney. Upon landing, all passengers were told to stay seated while the Australian counter-terrorist force took the man into custody. Witnesses report seeing him being interrogated by no less than 6 armed police officers in the airport terminal, but he was later released with no charges.

Nowadays, we all fly so much that most of us are guilty of being a little blasé – not watching the safety demonstrations; not belting up when the light pings on during non-existent turbulence; wrestling bags out of overhead compartments at the moment of touchdown (if a flight full of feisty Sicilians is anything to go by).

Here at Black Tomato, work is travel, travel is work. And we wouldn’t have it any other way. But we understand that for some businessfolk combining the two is a necessary evil and can be stressful.  We’re not passing judgement on the poor chap, we just want to know what he was working on.

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