unfriendly first class?

Over the last two years I have been upgraded on several occasions to
first on Continental Domestic, and to world business class (KLM) . I
found that my fellow pax in the wide leather seats seem to be rather
unfriendly on all of these. I am not aggressively friendly or talkative
but I do like to smile and make a little eye-contact and more than a
sentence or two of pleasantries to while away long flights. But
uniformly I have been rebuffed, with people either answering in
monosyllables or grunts and then looking away. FWIW, I am pretty
well-dressed and well-groomed at all times.
The last flight in first I asked the guy in the neighboring seat
whether I could look at the paper he had put down half an hour earlier
and he acted as though I had asked him for his wallet. He grudgingly
gave it to me with a stern injunction to give it back.

On the other hand, in the back sections I have had little difficulty
getting a friendly responses including returned smiles, and I can
recall many long conversations and exchange of biz cards and subsequent
emails.

what gives?

Quark

wrote:

On the other hand, in the back sections I have had little difficulty
getting a friendly responses including returned smiles, and I can
recall many long conversations and exchange of biz cards and subsequent
emails.

what gives?


You seem to be happier in the back, why not stay there?

On 3 Nov 2006 17:14:35 -0800 in rec.travel.air,
wrote:

what gives?

from my upgrade experience, i think that the destination or
origination of the flight can have a lot to do with it.

for SEA-LAS and return, folks in first are usually fairly
effusive. i also found that flights to and from alaska are
generally full of garrulous folks in both cabins. i would expect
flights to and from florida and other vacation destinations to
have friendlier pax in first.

if you were on a route between major cities, i suspect that the
folks rebuffing you have been either overworked corporate types
who actually cherish the private time or people that are just
plain snobs.

wrote:
Over the last two years I have been upgraded on several occasions to
first on Continental Domestic, and to world business class (KLM) . I
found that my fellow pax in the wide leather seats seem to be rather
unfriendly on all of these. I am not aggressively friendly or talkative
but I do like to smile and make a little eye-contact and more than a
sentence or two of pleasantries to while away long flights. But
uniformly I have been rebuffed, with people either answering in
monosyllables or grunts and then looking away. FWIW, I am pretty
well-dressed and well-groomed at all times.
The last flight in first I asked the guy in the neighboring seat
whether I could look at the paper he had put down half an hour earlier
and he acted as though I had asked him for his wallet. He grudgingly
gave it to me with a stern injunction to give it back.

My company buys tickets in Business Class and I regularly upgrade to
First. Particularly on International flights (don't fly all that much
domestic). I log 1-200,000 miles a year. Close to 20 years doing that.

I'm not on the plane to make friends. Mostly I just want to be left
alone to work on business issues, prepare for meetings, or just plain
sleep.

If you want something to while away the hours on a long flight bring a
book, turn on a video, work on your laptop, whatever. Don't expect the
guy sitting next to you to be responsible for your entertainment.

Yes, I consider a guy who wants to chat with me to be an annoyance.
Sorry about that.

well, I bring plenty of reading material and dont regard anyone else to
be responsible for my entertainment. However, there's a difference
between being polite and staying to oneself, and being positively
unfriendly. Its the latter that I have encountered almost uniformly in
first/biz class; much more so than in economy. You sound like an
exemplar.


Quark

Tchiowa wrote:
If you want something to while away the hours on a long flight bring a
book, turn on a video, work on your laptop, whatever. Don't expect the
guy sitting next to you to be responsible for your entertainment.

Yes, I consider a guy who wants to chat with me to be an annoyance.
Sorry about that.

well, I bring plenty of reading material and dont regard anyone else to
be responsible for my entertainment. However, there's a difference
between being polite and staying to oneself, and being positively
unfriendly. Its the latter that I have encountered almost uniformly in
first/biz class; much more so than in economy. You sound like an
exemplar.


Quark

Tchiowa wrote:
If you want something to while away the hours on a long flight bring a
book, turn on a video, work on your laptop, whatever. Don't expect the
guy sitting next to you to be responsible for your entertainment.

Yes, I consider a guy who wants to chat with me to be an annoyance.
Sorry about that.

Thanks to everyone (except mr travel) for their responses. No, I never
took anything personally, I was just making an anthropologica
observation and wondering about causes. As for the causes, it would
appear that those who fly biz/first are typically too harried to
befriendly or else they are just snobs.

Thanks

Quark

wrote:
well, I bring plenty of reading material and dont regard anyone else to
be responsible for my entertainment. However, there's a difference
between being polite and staying to oneself, and being positively
unfriendly.

Depends on your point of view. If I'm trying to sleep, watch TV, study,
whatever and the guy next to me tries to start a chat with me, I
consider him to be extremely rude.

Its the latter that I have encountered almost uniformly in
first/biz class; much more so than in economy. You sound like an
exemplar.

Sounds to me like someone has some "class warfare" issues.

wrote:

: well, I bring plenty of reading material and dont regard anyone else to
: be responsible for my entertainment. However, there's a difference
: between being polite and staying to oneself, and being positively
: unfriendly. Its the latter that I have encountered almost uniformly in
: first/biz class..

I agree that people in F/B class are less open and chatty than those in
economy. In part it could be the difference between those travelling on
real and stressful work, and those on holidays; but it could also be a
different style, as in the difference between a hispanic neighborhood
and a wealthy gated community.

My approach is, when I travel I should be open to whatever I find,
otherwise I could have stayed in my familiar environment. Any
relationship goes as far as it is mutually desired and if somebody
wants to be left alone I would leave them alone, just what I want when
the roles are reversed for whatever reason.

wrote:

: it would appear that those who fly biz/first are typically
: too harried to befriendly or else they are just snobs.

Certainly there are snobs around, but I too used to carry a big chip on
my shoulder and imagine that anyone who didn't find my company
supremely attractive must be a snob, until I realized that's how they
treated everyone outside of a sales meeting. You know, sometimes a
group simply has a character: Italians, Japanese, Mathematicians,
bartenders, I have learned to accept that they all have some group
characteristics and there is no need for me to be overly sensitive or
judgmental.