The Etiquette Edge

CHAPTER 10

Travel Courtesy

Don’t Leave Home Without It

After a five-hour flight in a cramped seat, a ninety-minute layover turns into a four-hour delay. You’re tired, hungry, and will never make that morning meeting if the flight is delayed any more. The airport seats are uncomfortable and you’re surrounded by irate passengers. To top it all off, you are looking at three days of wall-to-wall meetings and business lunches and dinners. Let’s face it; travel is not your favorite part of the job.

Stressful at best and traumatic at worst, business travel often brings out our evil twin. We become ruder, less tolerant, and shorter-fused than we would normally allow ourselves to be. Perhaps it’s because we’re tired and uneasy about being in unfamiliar ...