Airport Waiting Areas and the Crisis of American Individualism

From the latest government shutdown leaving thousands of TSA workers working without pay, to a fatal plane crash at LaGuardia a few days ago, to the addition of ICE agents conducting screenings in security lines, airports have been in the news a lot recently. While all of these issues reveal systematic and institutional failures that have led to oftentimes tragic results, I’m here to talk about something else entirely within the minutiae of airports themselves, something that has been grating on my gears ever since I began regularly traveling by air to go to a school outside of my home state: how people behave at airports.

I hate airports. I hate that they’re slow, they make me pay a ton of money to check one bag, taxiing takes forever—thanks, Chicago O’Hare—and air travel never fails to make me feel ill. But what I hate most of all is the behavior of other people. Don’t get me wrong, most individuals have the common sense and spatial awareness to behave conventionally. But that’s not always the case.

Last Sunday, I was traveling from O’Hare to LaGuardia in NYC. After waiting in a ridiculously long line to drop off my bag, I breezed through TSA, which surprised me immensely, considering the partial government shutdown and all. I made my way to the gate and sat down. The area outside of the gate was rather small, and there weren’t many available seats to choose from. That wasn’t a big deal (yet). I sat down, slid my backpack under my feet, and settled in to wait for boarding. 

I couldn’t help noticing as the family next to me piled their bags onto a nearby seat. With the already limited space around the gate, I felt that it was inconsiderate to other passengers to have their belongings taking up valuable space. My irritation promptly increased after I went to the bathroom and one of the daughters took my seat, leaving me with nowhere to sit.

And it wasn’t just this family. I cannot emphasize enough how small the waiting area outside of this gate was—it was the most limited space I had seen outside of a gate in a long time. Despite this, several other individuals had placed their bags in the seats next to them instead of, logically, putting their bags on the floor by their feet. This behavioral phenomenon seems to be reflective of a general ambivalence Americans have towards other people, something that I take great issue with; this specific example is one of my biggest pet peeves and contributes greatly to my immense hatred towards air travel.

To embody Joan Didion for a second: Do I really think that the fact that people are putting their bags on the seat next to them, blocking others from utilizing the seat, is a sign of moral decay? That might be going too far. However, I do think that it signals the sort of individualistic nature that Americans seem to proudly embody without realizing that this conduct often comes at the cost of the needs and wants of those around us. This airport bag example is simply just another manifestation of this broader behavioral trend that has permeated throughout our culture since perhaps the very beginning of this country. From our staunchly capitalist lifestyles to being loud tourists in Europe, Americans can’t seem to escape the stereotype that we don’t really care about anyone but ourselves and that everyone else just has to deal with it. 

We don’t seem to care about other people, and we don’t seem to want to. I mean, how hard is it really to put your bag on the ground and keep track of it? Maybe these people are worried that if they put their bag on the ground, it might be more susceptible to being stolen. To this point, I would argue that putting your bag on the seat next to you makes it even easier to steal, since it’s more within a passerby’s reach than a bag on the ground, which would require bending down to scoop up. On the other hand, perhaps these people are concerned about the cleanliness of the floor and can’t bear to think of having their precious baggage on this germ-infested surface. To this I say: Grow up. I mean, if you really think that airport personnel are cleaning the seats more than they are cleaning the carpet, I am afraid you are sadly mistaken. Plus, bags are going to encounter germs no matter what. I would bet that the very same bags that people refuse to place on the ground at airports have been tossed around elsewhere, whether that be the trunk of a car, outside on the (gasp) germ-infested ground, or wherever else bags are taken and placed. I would also argue that the bag is the least important part of the whole operation: The most important items are the things inside the bag, so who cares if the bag itself gets contaminated. The things inside are still safe, and plus, you can always wash the bag. 

Now you might be asking, why not just suck it up and stand? My answer to this is: I don’t want to. If there are seats that are not inhabited by humans, I want to sit there. Why should I have to stand? And yes, I know that waiting outside an airport gate implies that I am about to be sitting for an extended amount of time on a plane. However, that doesn’t mean that I necessarily want to stand before this. I would rather be as comfortable as I can be throughout the entire travel day, which I think is something most people would relate to. My arthritic knees don’t take too keenly to extended periods of standing, either, but that’s more of a personal complaint. 

I guess what I’m trying to say is that we need just a bit more awareness of the world around us, consciousness of the ways in which we inhabit the spaces around us, and perhaps a bit more care towards each other. And for the love of God, don’t put your bags on the seat next to you.

Julia Podgorski is a member of the class of 2028 and can be reached at jpodgorski@wesleyan.edu.