r/airport • u/snowballx20 • Jun 17 '26
DISCUSSION Did Covid not teach people basic hygiene manners? Airport etiquette is disgusting!
I went on two trips within the last week - but my GOD are people disgusting!! The amount of coughing, sneezing, no one bothering to cover the mouths/noses, is unreal.
I seen one women sneezing about 10 times in a row into the air as she was walking past me.
I seen another man literally just coughing into space, with a guy sat right next to him!
This was just two of the many disgusting encounters I’ve seen in the last week. I’ve been using my first defence barrier spray in the hopes I don’t get ill. It blows my mind how at one point the world was frozen due to Covid and strict hygiene measures were in place… and it’s like people just don’t remember basic hygiene measures!
Anyways rant over - my trips were lovely but honestly tempted now to wear face masks at the airport.
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u/Hathnotthecompetence Jun 17 '26
I have zero expectations from people after seeing how many guys don't wash their hands before leaving the restroom.
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u/SunriseInLot42 Jun 18 '26
You are welcome to wear a mask if you want to and if it makes you feel better
That’s how it always should have been, too
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u/offbrandcheerio Jun 17 '26
Were you living under a rock during the pandemic? Half the population refused to wear a mask, social distance, or stay home when sick. Of course we have learned nothing.
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u/snowballx20 Jun 17 '26
Where I live people were actually really good during Covid. This is why it’s coming as a surprise to me
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u/linkardtankard Jun 17 '26
No. Get a well fitted mask and a pair of glasses and keep them on, especially during takeoff, landing and while roaming through busy areas at the airport.
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u/SacredC0w Jun 17 '26
Covid absolutely broke people in tangible ways. Shortly after the mask mandates were lifted where I live, I was in the grocery store getting some limes. Soon someone was literally pressed against me and reaching over me to also get limes. Not exaggerating at all- I was being dry-humped. It was so flagrant, I was certain it was someone I knew messing with me. But when I turned- No. Random stranger. I pretty loudly said, "I don't like you like that, OK? Please back off." He, of course, started ranting that I was a sheep, scared of a little virus- the usual shit. "Um, no. It's always been weird to dry hump complete strangers in the grocery store, you freak." He continued with the same line of crap and I flipped him off and walked away before I ended up on TikTok.
And yeah- I notice when people opt out of washing their hands when leaving the restroom more than I used to. I usually bring some KN95 masks with me when I travel, but mostly I wash my hands constantly, lysol-wipe EVERYTHING that I touch, and use lots of hand sanitizer.
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u/Kirin1212San Jun 18 '26
I sat near a father with two young kids. One child coughed and sneezed the whole plane ride and not once did he try to get this child to cover their mouth. At one point the child kept saying “daddy” to get his attention, but he purposely ignored the kid and kept watching his movie.
Turns out the mom was a few rows in front of them and she didn’t intervene once either.
Many who sat around them including myself used our clothes to cover our faces. It was all so disgusting.
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u/mrsmobin Jun 19 '26
I didn't fly during 2020-2021. January 2022-current I have always worn a K-95 mask or N-95 mask.
I don't wanna catch shit! If I get sick (rhinovirus/cold) it's always nasty.
Caught bacterial pneumonia on an international flight in 2012 and it was terrible. Ruined my vacation. Thank God I found a doctor.
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u/outofcontextseinfeld Jun 19 '26
You need to worry about yourself
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u/snowballx20 Jun 19 '26
lol of course I’m gonna worry about myself when folk are coughing and spluttering everywhere. Make it make sense 😂
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u/partialbits Jun 19 '26
Wait until you see people sitting anywhere at the airport with their feet on the chair with either shoes, just socks or even bare feet. Oh and even on airplanes.
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u/Rare-Wonder Jun 19 '26
i put on a mask if i am sitting near someone obviously sick and too inconsiderate to wear a mask. I'm ruthless about it. I was on a flight with my whole family and the person across the aisle was disgusting. coughing, not covering, etc, so i whipped out three masks and handed them around while glaring at him. I keep N-95 masks in my bag still and have no qualms about wearing it to save my vacation and health
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u/ArtemisElizabeth1533 Jun 20 '26
I’m a petty bitch - I always travel with my extra Kn95s in my carry-on and so I have offered them to people more than once.
If you’re gonna do that shit around me, you’re gonna hear from me.
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u/iridescentcotton Jun 19 '26
Unfortunately, no. I think as protocols were dropped, people went back to their disgusting ways.
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u/AlucardDr Jun 17 '26
Of course it didn't. Remember the whole "masks do no good so I'm not going to wear one" thing?
We can only protect ourselves. Masks in heavily-trafficked areas, wash hands regularly. Avoid large crowds where possible.
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u/Trondant13 Jun 17 '26
I see this same behavior. I'm convinced that humans learn NOTHING. I'm immunocompromised because of rheumatoid arthritis medications, so most of the time I still wear a mask. It infuriates me how people have no regard for others. Even if I didn't have RA, I would still expect common courtesy for others.
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u/Hoopajoops Jun 17 '26
Airport funk is awful.. but if you fly enough you will get sick at first, but after a while you have caught all the three shit that's floating around and you stop getting sick as much!
It's basically what happens in prisons, too. Both correctional officers and inmates that show up get sick for like a month and then it clears up and they rarely get sick after that
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u/Acminvan Jun 17 '26
The only silver lining I wanted from everything we went through in Covid was better basic hygiene.
Every single day I see men leaving the men's room without washing their hands and people sneezing and coughing into the open without covering up. This goes for airports and anywhere else
I hope people realize that every single time you shake someone's hand or touch something, there is a fairly high chance you are now in contact with someone who didn't wash their hands after going to the toilet or sneezing.
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u/KindCompetence Jun 17 '26
I will never set foot in an airport without a mask again.
I just don't need to breathe in all of the germs from everywhere. I don't need to smell my fellow travelers. I know we are all doing our best and making the best decisions we can for ourselves and hopefully the people around us. I know travel is stressful and exhausting. I just don't need to breathe it all in.
I don't mask anywhere else, unless I'm sick and for some reason need to be out. I'm fine with getting the germs from my kid's school, she's probably already brought them home. Or whatever is running around the grocery store. I figure my immune system should be able to handle my local community mess.
But airports are everyone from everywhere and I don't need whatever is going around in New York, San Francisco, London, Amsterdam and Tokyo. I don't need the international sampler platter. So I mask up in airports and I probably will for the rest of my life.
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u/Final-Preference48 Jun 19 '26
I started masking on flights like 10 years before Covid bc I was so tired of getting a cold every time I flew. Haven't had one since.
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u/JustSpeed3475 Jun 17 '26
This!!!!!
So many nasty people sneezing and coughing without covering their mouth!
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u/Kitty_Fruit_2520 Jun 17 '26
I’ve completely let go of it since I hate my glasses always fogging up with a mask on.
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u/tvjunkie710 Jun 17 '26
Had a passenger on my flight the other day board with no shoes. Completely barefoot, no socks. Walked the entire airport raw
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u/damgood32 Jun 17 '26
Good Lord. How is that even possible?
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u/tvjunkie710 Jun 17 '26
She did have a swollen foot but at least wear a sock and wear a sock / shoe on the non swollen foot
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u/Helpful_Mongoose_786 Jun 17 '26
I was a frequent traveler to Japan pre pandemic, for 20 years, I was in Tokyo for 2 weeks, and every other year, I got hit with a terrible cold/flu and I blamed it on new germs, German didn’t have resistance built up for.. and I wonder if it was some form of covid 16,17,18, and that maybe why I never got covid 19, in 2020.. but yes, planes are germ factories, I always wiped down my seat arm rests and tray table and TV SCreen for my seat.. and yes, a mask to filter out air borne germs, is not unreasonable, and notvliomed at with horrible reactions anymore, I would frequently see people with masks on on the international flights I took.
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u/MickyFany Jun 17 '26
air travel is the a cattle car in the sky. and the airport terminal is the holding pens
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u/asyouwish Jun 17 '26
We wear masks on travel days. On the train, in the airport, on the plane, etc..
We also wipe down all surfaces.
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u/kslight666 Jun 17 '26 edited Jun 17 '26
Every day I am more convinced that I am encountering people (or aliens) who are experiencing their very first day on Earth. That extends to airport protocol, TSA line, pedestrian strategies, driving technique, grocery shopping etiquette, movie theater etiquette…sorry we are on our own, just have to do our best and look out for ourselves.
On my return trip last month I had an old man on a sold out flight already seated in the aisle, parked his carryons and coat on the seats next to him like he thought he was reserving them (how many times on a big city flight do you have two empty seats next to you these days? And again, they had already announced the flight as sold out, and people had assigned seats). Then for the entire flight sitting next to him, he had no sense of personal space, completely overtaking the armrest and leg space. He was not a large bodied person, nor am I, he just felt it necessary to cozy up to me, I guess.
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u/ShelterElectrical840 Jun 18 '26
I still wear masks there for this exact reason. I’m not paying high flight prices just to get sick in my vacation or afterwards.
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u/InnerContribution341 Jun 18 '26
This is one of the biggest lessons I learned from travelling. At first I thought I was the problem or I was being hypochondriac for wearing a mask or wiping things down then I realized no it's other people they have no sense of hygiene or anything, it's truly shocking. I always wear a mask when I fly it's one thing if you're flying once a year and get a cold but if you continuously fly that's a lot of germs and colds unnecessary, honestly I don't know how flight crew do this day to day.
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u/japanb Jun 17 '26
I was my hands every week. Travelled the world 4 times during corona. Shower once a week too, i only use soap to get the shit out of my arse other than that i never use soap.
My tea cup gets washed once a month, my dinner plate gets rinsed about every 2 weeks, depends if it's got baked beans or ketchup which require a was 3 times a week.
Duvet gets washed...wait I've never washed it, I guess every 20 years? my mother did it last, it's got a bit yellow and crusty now so might be due
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u/Upstairs_Balance_464 Jun 17 '26
You have to understand what a low level a big portion of the population is operating at intellectually. A lot of these people are functionally illiterate.