9 plane etiquette rules every passenger should follow

Discover the indisputable rules of domestic plane etiquette.

Planes can be a wild place. All of a sudden, you’re forced into the personal space of many random strangers. You even have to share the (rather unpleasant) air with them. And something about that turns otherwise civilised people into animals. Debates on plane etiquette will pop up on the internet time and again, but we have the unquestionable list that all plane passengers should be following for a brighter world.

Read on, and take note.

1. Never put your seat back

There is never an excuse to lower the back of your seat on a domestic flight. Domestic planes are much tighter spaces and those of us who are six foot and over simply cannot squeeze our legs into the tiny gap that is left when the chair in front of us is leaning back. The maximum length of flight around Australia is what, five hours? You can sit upright for five hours. If you can’t… catch the train.

2. Don’t dig into the seat in front

Unless the seat in front of you has broken rule number one, don’t dig, bang or hang on their seat back. But if they have broken rule number three, well then they’ve made their own bed and they can get kneed in the back for it.

Think of the tall people. (Image: Getty/ Chalabala)

3. Armrests are for the middle seat

I don’t know how to make this any clearer – the middle seat sucks and the only saving grace is having both the armrests. The aisle seat has its own armrest, and the window seat can lean into the wall of the plane.

I will die on this hill.

person holding onto chair armrests in plane — If you’re not in the middle, stay away from the middle armrests. (Image: Getty/ Skynesher)

4. Keep your feet to yourself

It’s the eternal mystery, but for some reason there will always be people who can’t grasp where their foot space begins and ends on a plane. Some people will also get hung up on the barefoot issue, but to be honest, I truly don’t care as long as you keep your foot in the imaginary box of your chair. And, just to remind you all, I am a tall woman saying this. If I can do it, so can you.

crowd of people walking — Watch where your feet go. (Image: Getty/ bee32)

5. Be polite

Just as with hotel staff, the obvious, yet often ignored, answer to getting the best out of people is simply to be kind and polite. That goes for both the airline staff, and your fellow guests. If you ask for things nicely and respectfully, more often than not, you’ll receive an agreeable answer. Yes, even when things seem to be going wrong.

6. Don’t push someone to switch seats

Sometimes, in plane travel, you will not be seated next to your party. Sucks to be you, but may I just say: too bad. If it’s important to sit next to your travel companions – be they friend, lover or offspring – pay the extra $20 to choose your seat ahead of time.

What you certainly should not do is guilt a fellow passenger into switching seats with you just because they’re travelling solo. If you have the same seat (or better, you may ask the question – in a casual, guilt-free tone. But if the answer is no, sit yourself down and buckle up for a ride without your nearest and dearest. It’s no one else’s fault that you’re not sitting together, and it’s likely every person on that plane has been very intentional about their seat choice.

Controversially, as someone who does love kids, I also have to apply this to parents and kids. There may be some slim exceptions to this, but in general, it’s no excuse to behave poorly.

plane about to take off at sunset — Planes just aren’t that big, deal with your seat. (Image: Getty/ Gremlin)

7. Switch if you can, though

Having said that, if you’re flying solo and the seat swap you’re being asking for is the exact same position (or better) in a different row, you really should just say yes. If they’re trying to force you into a middle seat though, you hold strong on that no.

8. Don’t hog the overhead bins

Some passengers are just so darn desperate to fit everything into a carry on bag, that they screw everyone else over by hogging more than their fair share of the overhead bins. The rules are, one small bag up the top, one even smaller.

man putting luggage in storage bin on plane — Be reasonable with your carry-on. (Image: Space_Cat)

9. Wait your turn to get off the plane

There is an order to deboarding the plane, and it goes row by row. We can all agree on that. However, I do have just a couple of caveats. The first is if someone is desperate to go to the toilet, they can’t get to the plane toilet because the aisles are filled, and they’re very open and honest about the desperate need to get to the loo with passengers around them who are perhaps moving a little slowly – just step aside for one moment and let them run off. Don’t be such a stickler for the etiquette rules that you literally elbow them to stop them getting in front of you, even though you’re in no way ready to walk off the plane.

Pointing this out for a friend, not from my own life. Personally.

The other is that if someone is literally ready to race off the second the plane lands, no need to gather things or get a bag from the overhead locker, probably just let them go.

line of people with suitcases at airport — Line up, and wait. (Image: Getty/ Izusek)

Abandoned mills and forgotten paper plants are finding second lives – and helping redefine a city long underestimated.

Just 15 years ago, Federal Mills was a very different place. Once among the most significant industrial sites in Victoria, the historic woollen mill was one of a dozen that operated in Geelong at the industry’s peak in the mid-20th century, helping the city earn its title as ‘wool centre of the world’. But by the 1960s global competition and the rise of synthetic fabrics led to the slow decline of the industry, and Federal Mills finally shuttered its doors in 2001. Within a few years, the abandoned North Geelong grounds had become makeshift pastoral land, with cows and goats grazing among the overgrown grass between the empty red-brick warehouses. It was a forgotten pocket of the city, all but two klicks from the bustle of the CBD.

Geelong cellar door wine bar — Geelong has shed its industrial identity to become an innovative urban hub with reimagined heritage spaces. (Image: Ash Hughes)

Federal Mills: from forgotten factory to creative precinct

Today, the century-old complex stands reborn. The distinctive sawtooth-roof buildings have been sensitively restored. An old silo is splashed with a bright floral mural, landscapers have transformed the grounds, and the precinct is once again alive with activity. More than 1000 people work across 50-plus businesses here. It’s so busy, in fact, that on a sunny Thursday morning in the thick of winter, it’s hard to find a car park. The high ceilings, open-plan design, and large multi-paned windows – revolutionary features for factories of their time – have again become a drawcard.

Paddock Bakery andPatisserie — Paddock Bakery and Patisserie is housed within the historic wool factory. (Image: Gallant Lee)

At Paddock , one of the precinct’s newer tenants, weaving looms and dye vats have been replaced by a wood-fired brick oven and heavy-duty mixers. Open since April 2024, the bakery looks right at home here; the building’s industrial shell is softened by ivy climbing its steel frames, and sunlight streams through the tall windows. Outside, among the white cedar trees, families at picnic benches linger over dippy eggs and bagels, while white-collar workers pass in and out, single-origin coffee and crème brûlée doughnuts in hand.

Geelong: Australia’s only UNESCO City of Design

Paddock Bakery can be found at Federal Mills. (Image: Gallant Lee)

“A lot of people are now seeing the merit of investing in Geelong,” says Paul Traynor, the head of Hamilton Hospitality Group, which redeveloped Federal Mills. A city once shunned as Sleepy Hollow, and spurned for its industrial, working-class roots and ‘rust belt’ image, Geelong has long since reclaimed its ‘Pivot City’ title, having reinvented itself as an affordable, lifestyle-driven satellite city, and a post-COVID migration hotspot.

And the numbers stand testament to the change. In March 2025, and for the first time in its history, Greater Geelong became Australia’s most popular regional town for internal migration, overtaking Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Current forecasts suggest Geelong will continue to outpace many other Australian cities and towns, with jobs growing at double the rate of the population.

Tourism is booming, too. The 2023-24 financial year was Geelong and The Bellarine region’s busiest on record, with 6.4 million visitors making it one of the fastest-growing destinations in the country. It’s not hard to see why: beyond the city’s prime positioning at the doorstep of the Great Ocean Road, Geelong’s tenacity and cultural ambition stands out.

As Australia’s only UNESCO City of Design, Geelong is swiftly shaking off its industrial past to become a model for urban renewal, innovation, sustainability and creative communities. The signs are everywhere, from the revitalisation of the city’s waterfront, and the landmark design of the Geelong Library and Heritage Centre and Geelong Arts Centre, to the growing network of local designers, architects and artists, and the burgeoning roster of festivals and events. That’s not even mentioning the adaptive reuse of storied old industrial buildings – from Federal Mills, to Little Creatures’ brewery ‘village’ housed within a 1920s textile mill – or the city’s flourishing food and wine scene.

The rise of a food and wine destination

Restaurant 1915 is housed within a restored former boiler house. (Image: Harry Pope/Two Palms)

Traynor credits now-closed local restaurant Igni, which opened in 2016, as the turning point for Geelong’s hospo industry. “[Aaron Turner, Igni’s chef-patron] was probably the first guy, with all due respect, to raise the bar food-wise for Geelong,” he says. “People now treat it really seriously, and there’s clearly a market for it.” While Igni is gone, Turner now helms a string of other notable Geelong venues, including The Hot Chicken Project and Tacos y Liquor, all within the buzzy, street art-speckled laneways of the CBD’s Little Malop Street Precinct. Many others have also popped up in Igni’s wake, including Federal Mills’ own restaurant, 1915 . Housed within the cavernous boiler house, 1915’s interior is dramatic: soaring, vaulted ceilings with timber beams, exposed brick, a huge arched window. The share plates echo the space’s bold character, playing with contrast and texture, with dishes such as a compressed watermelon tataki, the sweet, juicy squares tempered by salty strands of fried leeks, and charred, smoky snow peas dusted with saganaki on a nutty bed of romesco.

The Woolstore , one of The Hamilton Group’s most recent hospo projects, opened in February. It occupies a century-old riverside warehouse and exudes a more sultry, fine dining ambience. Much like Federal Mills, the blueprint was to preserve the original brickwork, tallowwood flooring and nods to the building’s former life. That same careful consideration extends to the well-versed, affable waitstaff as well as the kitchen. Head chef Eli Grubb is turning out an eclectic mix of ambitious and indulgent mod Oz dishes that deliver: strikingly tender skewers of chicken tsukune, infused with hints of smoke from the parrilla grill, and glazed with a moreish, sweet gochujang ‘jam’; nduja arancini fragrant with hints of aniseed and the earthy lick of sunny saffron aioli; and golden squares of potato pavé, adorned with tiny turrets of crème fraîche, crisp-fried saltbush leaves, and Avruga caviar, to name but a few stand-out dishes.

Woolstore menu — Woolstore’s menu is designed for sharing.

Breathing new life into historic spaces

On the city’s fringe, hidden down a winding side road with little fanfare, lies a long-dormant site that’s being gently revived. Built from locally quarried bluestone and brick, and dating back to the 1870s, the complex of original tin-roofed mill buildings is lush with greenery and backs onto the Barwon River and Buckley Falls; the audible rush of water provides a soothing soundtrack. Fyansford Paper Mill is one of few complexes of its time to survive intact. It feels steeped in history and spellbindingly rustic.

“We were looking for an old industrial place that had some charm and romance to it,” explains Sam Vogel, the owner, director and winemaker at Provenance Wines which moved here in 2018. When he first viewed the building with his former co-owner, it was in such a state of disrepair that the tradie tenant occupying the space had built a shed within it to escape the leaking roof and freezing winter temperatures. “To say it was run down would be an understatement,” he notes. “There was ivy growing through the place; the windows were all smashed. It was a classic Grand Designs project.”

Provenance Wines moved to Fyansford Paper Mill in 2018. (Image: Cameron Murray Photography)

The team has since invested more than a million dollars into their new home. Where paper processing machinery once sat, wine barrels are now stacked. Vaulted cathedral ceilings are strung with festoon lights, and hidden in plain sight lies a shadowy mural by local street artist de rigueur Rone – one of only three permanent works by the artist.

While the award-winning, cool-climate pinot noir, riesling and chardonnay naturally remain a key draw at Provenance, the winery’s restaurant is a destination in itself. Impressed already by whipsmart service, I devour one of the most cleverly curated and faultlessly executed degustations I’ve had in some time. It’s all prepared in a kitchen that is proudly zero-waste, and committed to providing seasonal, ethical and locally sourced meat and produce under head chef Nate McIver. Think free-range venison served rare with a syrupy red wine jus and a half-moon of neon-orange kosho, shokupan with a deeply savoury duck fat jus (a modern Japanese take on bread and drippings), and a golden potato cake adorned with a colourful confetti of dehydrated nasturtiums and tomato powder, and planted atop a sea urchin emulsion.

handcrafted pieces — Bell’s handcrafted functional pieces on display.

The complex is home to a coterie of independent businesses, including a gallery, a jeweller, and its latest tenant, ceramicist Elizabeth Bell, drawn here by the building’s “soul”. “There’s so much potential for these buildings to have new life breathed into them,” says Bell, whose studio is housed within the old pump room. “Even people in Geelong don’t know we’re here,” she says. “It’s definitely a destination, but I like that. It has a really calming atmosphere.”

A Melbourne transplant, Bell now feels at home in Geelong, which offers something Melbourne didn’t. “If this business was in Melbourne I don’t think it would’ve been as successful,” she notes. “It’s very collaborative in Geelong, and I don’t think you get that as much in Melbourne; you’re a bit more in it for yourself. Here it’s about community over competition.”