Airports have somehow become one of the weirdest social experiments on earth. Everyone is tired, everyone is hungry, everyone paid too much for a bottle of water, and yet somehow a shocking number of people still decide this is the perfect setting to behave like the main character in a one-person apocalypse movie.

We recently asked our readers which airport trends they are totally over, and let’s just say the responses came in hot. Very hot. There was rage. There was sarcasm. There was one beautifully concise person who simply answered, “People. That’s it. That’s the list.” Frankly, that may be the most efficient airport review ever written.

Still, a few complaints came up again and again, and if you’ve flown anywhere lately, especially on your way to or from Disney World, you’ve probably seen at least a few of them in the wild.

Gate Lice

Let’s start with the term that absolutely deserves its moment in the spotlight: gate lice.

If you’ve never heard it before, it refers to the people who swarm the boarding area long before their group is called, hovering at the scanner like they’re about to storm a castle instead of board a Southwest flight. Our readers had no patience for this one, with multiple people calling out travelers who stand there in the way despite being in later boarding groups. One person summed it up with, “Gate. Lice. Sit until you are called!!” Another added, “Stop lining up when I’m group 3 and you’re group 8.” Brutal. Accurate. Necessary.

Look, we get it. Everyone wants overhead bin space. Everyone wants to get settled. But crowding the gate like you’re auditioning for a disaster documentary doesn’t make boarding smoother. It just makes everyone else crankier.

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Aisle Olympics

Then there are the people who leap up the second the plane touches down, as though standing in the aisle three full minutes earlier is going to magically teleport them to baggage claim.

Our readers were deeply, spiritually over this. They called out the folks who stand immediately, shove forward, grab bags early, and turn deplaning into an elbow-based contact sport. One reader described “aisle lice” trampling forward before the plane had even docked, which is both vivid and, unfortunately, very easy to picture. Another wondered why deplaning can’t just happen row by row like civilized people. A fair question! A beautiful question! A question the flying public continues to ignore.

Nobody is saying you need to sit there smiling while the seatbelt sign is still on and your knees have fused into one shape. But maybe, just maybe, we can stop treating landing like the opening bell at a Black Friday sale.

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Dogs Out

This one came up a lot, too: people taking their shoes off on the plane.

Friends. No.

This is not your living room. This is not a yoga studio. This is definitely not the place to let your bare feet roam free while the rest of us are trapped in a metal tube at 35,000 feet. Readers called out everything from shoes off entirely to socks on the seat, and honestly, none of it paints a picture anyone wants hanging in the gallery of their travel memories.

Comfort matters, sure, but public comfort should not come at the cost of making everyone else silently reconsider humanity.

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Speakerphone Society

Another airport plague? Speakerphone. Loud videos. Music with no headphones. Full-volume FaceTime in the gate area like the rest of us, have been cast as unwilling extras in your content. One reader nailed it: “No one is impressed with your unique music interest. I promise.” Another called out people watching videos on speaker in the seating area, and yes, this deserves side-eye from every corner of the terminal.

Airports are already noisy enough without adding someone’s conspiracy podcast, TikTok feed, or call with Aunt Linda about potato salad to the soundtrack.

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Pajama Patrol

This one got surprisingly feisty.

Several readers said they are over people wearing pajamas through the airport, with one flatly declaring, “Pajamas. Look respectable.” Another specifically called out folks showing up in exercise gear or pajamas because they want to be comfy. And listen, there’s a delicate balance here. Nobody is asking you to wear a blazer to Gate B14. We are not launching an airport formalwear movement. But the anti-pajama crowd is clearly out there, clutching their dignity and judging your fleece sleep pants from across the terminal.

This one may come down to personal preference, but it definitely proves one thing: airport fashion discourse is alive, well, and a little petty.

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Bin Bandits

There was also a lot of frustration about carry-ons, overhead bins, and people who apparently believe luggage rules are more of a creative suggestion than an actual system.

Readers complained about giant carry-ons “the size of a Volkswagen,” people in the back of the plane throwing bags in the front bins, and early groups losing bin space because everything filled up too fast. That chaos is a huge reason gate lice exists in the first place. When every airline has turned basic convenience into an upcharge, people start guarding bin space like it’s buried treasure.

It is annoying. It is messy. It is also a reminder that sometimes the problem is not just the passengers. Sometimes the system itself is basically one long stress burrito.

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Seat Swap Circus

Then there’s the seat-swapping drama. One reader shared that someone asked her to move from an aisle seat at the front of the plane to a middle seat in the back so they could sit with their companion. Absolutely not. That is not a trade. That is a hostage negotiation with worse legroom. Others vented about paying extra for seat selection only to be asked, or even pressured, to give it up later.

Here is the truth: asking politely is one thing. Acting entitled to someone else’s seat because you failed to plan ahead is another. One is a request. The other is a villain origin story.

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Fee Fever

Of course, not all the rage was directed at fellow travelers. Plenty of it was aimed squarely at the airlines and airports themselves. Readers were fed up with paying extra for seats, luggage, boarding order, snacks, and basically the privilege of existing within 100 feet of a jet bridge. They also called out overpriced food, shrinking legroom, self-service kiosks that demand your contact info for a receipt, and the general nickel-and-diming of modern air travel. One person complained about paying $25 for a grilled cheese and $7 for water, which is less a meal and more a financial cry for help.

And honestly? Fair. At a certain point, flying starts to feel like you bought a ticket for transportation and then got trapped inside a mobile microtransaction.

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Use Your Humanity

Now for the part where we all take one deep breath into our overpriced airport coffee and remember we live in a society.

Yes, some of these behaviors are wildly irritating. Yes, some people absolutely need to stop acting like the boarding process is a personal improv challenge. But it’s also true that airports are stressful, people are tired, delays happen, families are stretched thin, and not every annoying moment is coming from a place of selfishness. Sometimes it’s confusion. Sometimes it’s anxiety. Sometimes it’s just a really bad day.

So by all means, keep your shoes on, wear headphones, wait for your group, and do not create a deplaning stampede. But also try to leave a little room for grace.

And while we’re at it, be kind to flight attendants, gate agents, TSA workers, and all the other employees trying to keep the whole chaotic machine from bursting into flames. They did not invent the security line. They did not personally cancel your connection. They are just human beings trying to do a job while surrounded by thousands of stressed-out travelers and at least one guy blasting a podcast with no headphones.

Air travel is never going to be magical, even when it’s taking you to Disney. But a little courtesy, a little patience, and a tiny bit of self-awareness can keep the whole thing from turning into a terminal-wide descent into nonsense.

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Prepare for Take Off

So yes, Disney Adults have spoken, and they are very, very over gate lice, aisle sprinters, barefoot plane people, bin bandits, and the general plague of public inconsideration. Honestly? Same.

The airport does not need to be your runway, your living room, your TikTok set, or your personal kingdom of entitlement. It just needs to be a place where we all get through the experience with our bags, our boarding passes, and our last remaining nerve intact. And if we can do that while being a little more patient with each other, and a lot nicer to the workers keeping the whole circus moving, even better.

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What bugs you when you travel? How do you fix it or make sure you’re not bothering those around you? Let us know in the comments below!