Airplane etiquette and SFO

People decide to do some pretty awesome things on airplanes. For instance, the man next to me right now has decided to take off his shoes and thoroughly, and I mean thoroughly, massage his besocked feet. He has also asked me to move my leg so he can put down the middle tray table so he can rest his drink there while he continues to massage his feet. This led me to think of other things people do on airplanes that are out of bounds.

Putting on nail polish. Really? We are in a tiny tube with recycled air and you are touching up your nails? I love a pregnant whiff of chemicals as much as the next girl, but only when surrounded by my favorite Vietnamese nail techs. Not ok.

Listening to your iPod or dvd player at full volume. On one flight I had a dude one row ahead of me who had forgotten his earphones and was watching a dvd anyway. No headphones. What a hero. Funny enough, I didn’t go see Death Race in the theater for a reason, and I don’t want to overhear it now. Most times people just forget to plug in their headphones and you just have to nudge them after staring awkwardly at the other passengers near you to make sure you aren’t being too sensitive. Teenagers, however, are amazing at their capacity for volume even avec earphones. I mean, how can I hear your Miley Cyrus even with engine background noise? I hate being forced to be the cranky lady next to someone who asks them if they can turn it down.

submitted by Adrienne: My favorite is people trimming their nails and letting the nails fall on the floor. Why do people think this is ok to do in public? I have now seen or heard of this being done in airport waiting areas, doctor's offices and of course at work.


SFO
Has anyone else noticed how totally lame SFO is despite being in one of the top 5 coolest cities in America? Stores are lackluster--I looked at the full map listing just to be sure. And yeah, I am. There is a minimum of natural light. They have the offensive inward swinging bathroom doors. There is no Starbucks (which isn't bad in and of itself, but there are not commensurately good or pentiful enough subsstitutes) and San Fran certainly ahs enough awesome local coffee options to sub in, but they are NOT using them. The ceiling has fluorescent lights and lame popcorn tiles. Boo. They do have a Body Shop for antiaging. Where are my organic food markets and napa valley wine selections? I need a cheese shop, stat. As it is I will settle for their whoop-de-crap of a Gordon Biersch. A sad place to spend a football Sunday.

Lucky for SFO I am heading up to SeaTac, which, unless it has been remodeled in the last year, is also a big yawnicus maximus of an airport for serving such a fantastic city. Hasn't been remodeled. On further observation, I actually I like the generally easy access whereby you just pop downstairs and catch a tram and don't have to walk for 50 miles (United). But the ceilings are so low. Like they are replicating they stifling gray of the outside world. Boo. Come on Seattle, be cool!