A refresher on business air-travel etiquette
read that management book you have been meaning to for months. Corporate dress codes may have relaxed but opt for transatlantic athleisure only if you have time to change before heading to your meeting after you land. Boarding the red-eye in pyjama bottoms is not OK.
Elasticated waistbands are acceptable. Yoga pants and flip-flops are not; they clash with the spirit of work—especially if colleagues and clients might be on the same flight. And you never know whom you might run into at the luggage carousel.
For those lucky enough to work for firms with fat travel budgets, business class helps attenuate these problems. You can work more freely and never need to kick the seat in front of you to let the passenger in the row ahead know they are reclining too comfortably (which, incidentally, you should not do in economy either). Even so, remember you are not alone.
Do not violate other passengers’ personal space with your body, voice (just because you are a senior vice-president at Goldman Sachs does not mean others want to listen to your phone conversation while you board) or odour (splash on your hypnotic sandalwood cologne in moderation). Most of these challenges are eliminated if you fly first class. You get a personal suite, à la carte dining, vintage champagne and, on some flights, doorstep baggage pick-up, check-in and drop-off by airline employees (though even that probably doesn’t excuse flip-flops).
Or so this guest Bartleby is told. When she suggested corroborating it herself for the purposes of research, her request was regrettably denied. You will have to work this part out on your own.
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