We have all been on some form of public transportation when the person next to you wants to have a conversation. While it is nice to meet someone new and learn a bunch of things about that person’s life, you are under no obligation to have a conversation with your seatmate.
Most of the times, I have no interest in speaking with someone on a flight. I look forward to some down time when I can close my eyes or watch a movie. To put it simply, I really do not want to be bothered by someone I may not know. I would rather that they keep to themselves.
The key challenge is how do you do that without appearing to be rude. I would suggest you avoid telling the person that you have no interest in them or their boring stories. While this will shut them up, it is not socially appropriate. Since this is an etiquette tip, remember to be polite and nice to everyone during your trip.
My preferred approach is to take my seat and put my headphones on straight away. By doing this, it sends a clear message that you are focused on some media and not interested in speaking to anyone. Another way is for you to close your eyes and pretend you are sleeping. The challenge with this is it is hard to do right away due to everything going on at boarding.
If your seatmate is persistent in talking to you then you need to respond to them as nicely as possible with a line like, I am sorry but I am in the middle of a movie or trying to get a little sleep. I will catch up with you later.
In the end, an airplane is shared space but you are under no obligation to have an ongoing conversation with the person seated next to you. This unfortunately does not apply if the person next to you is your spouse. 😊