Top 5: 31st of August 2013

At the end of each month I´ll give you a small resume of my top 5 and bottom 5 passengers’ nationalities to work with

1)      Japanese: state-of-the-art-passengers. They are polite, clean, cut efficient and extremely well organized when it comes to traveling. If they travel in packs or individually they know how to behave with ground staff and Crew. Not only they try to understand directions but also they try to help others in need even so they don´t speak the language of the other passenger. Always smiling and very patient in every occasion. They are very clean with their “things” but also they understand clearly what personal hygiene is. Boarding is really fast and because they tend not to take much carry on items it´s easy to help them store it in the overhead compartments. The only thing that they may request is a pair of slippers or extra socks but that is it. Certain Nationalities should really learn from them.

2)      South Koreans: they are just like Japanese but with a little bit more youthful energy in there things. A big difference from Japanese is that they tend to really love Duty-free and perfumes, so many bath themselves with a lot of fragrances before getting into the aircraft and sometimes you may have a slight headache because of it. Nevertheless they like to be efficient and practical when it comes to travelling: they tend not to take much carry on items, if they do they tend to respect to baggage limit and they also are responsive to commands. They keep on their seat belt during all the flight and they don´t move much around the cabin, if they do it´s to stretch but they do it without blocking the aisle (they just go into the free space between the emergency exit doors or the back part of the galley next to the restrooms).

3)      Canadians: they always have the Canadian flag in some part of their luggage. Not only they are happy and cheerful but also they are calm when it comes to long to extra long hauls journeys. They don´t like to bother others and they are good people to start a conversation when they feel that they can. A big difference from there neighbors is that they don´t shout as much as certain States. Also they tend to be very fast while boarding and very well mannered when they ask about something that they didn´t understand. They are not at all problematic customers to deal with.

4)      Swedish / Sweden: it´s all about order, rules and Ikea. They do know about minimalistic personal style in the way they groom themselves. Straight hair cuts, original but simple outfits and woman wear very light make up when they travel. They are very clean and cut efficient when they want something and they don´t like to bother Crew. If they can go to the galley to pour a glass of water without annoying another passenger, they will. Sometimes they seem to be very cold and distant but it´s just their comfort zone until they feel they can “open up” to others. Also when it comes to boarding they are extremely fast and generally they know where there seat specifically is before getting into the aircraft. If they get a little drunk they just seat and sleep; not loud at all.

5)      Americans: grey zone. Depending of the State in which they come from they can be noisy or very noisy, it´s like if they are kind of deaf. So you may listen the clear American accent when you hear them approaching the gate: “Yeahhhhh, do you have you Passsspoooort with yooou?” it seems they need a constant self reminder for things. They are not bad passenger to deal with, they are simply too noisy. They generally are good people to deal with and polite; they also tend to ask questions when they don´t understand something and they are responsive to commands. While boarding they might take a little time to do so as they become sometimes distractive and disoriented inside the aircraft but once you assist them they respond quickly. Sometimes they buy a lot in the Duty-free and they enter the aircraft with their bags, trolley and too many Duty bags and that may be troublesome to place them in the overhead compartments. Many times we have to store them in Business but they tend to be very respectful if they need to take something from there, that is why they usually they ask Crew before entering Business or they ask us to bring them their personal items.

(I don´t own the above picture)