People fake illness to avoid conversation on board. Some will even ignore when approached for a talk. Then there are also the ones who act of sleeping, just reading a magazine or book, or simply keeping the earbuds on all throughout the flight.
Actually, the last one happens more often.
And those are all basically not-so-subtle hints that they don’t want to strike a conversation. But if you are having a long flight, a conversation can really help in passing the time on a plane.
And if you are not sure, how do you talk to a stranger on a plane, a few easy-to-do tips should get you started. Basically, what we will be talking about today!
So How Do You Talk to a Stranger on a Plane?
It’s all about knowing how to start a conversation and doing little things like offering help when needed. You also want to work on keeping the conversation going, share personal praises, do frequent eye contact, and know the manner to end the conversation.
Starting Conversation – The Hardest
Most of the time, it’s the starting that’s the hardest. And same goes for initializing a conversation with your flight neighbour. Here are two incredible tips that 80% of the time, work!
“You Look Really Familiar! I Feel We’ve Met Before.”
This has to be one of the classics of getting the conversation started. It allows the person to share information about them. And that itself is a way of starting a conversation.
Even if you end up not getting the common ground of having met before, the conversation started at least. And now it’s all about your skills to keep the conversation alive.
Your Humor Can Help Break the Ice!
Imagine this. You are at a lecture hall sitting next to a person you’d like to bond with. And you try to hit it with a funny statement. “He Looks Like Professor Snape from Hogwarts, Doesn’t He?”.
A little bit of positive commentary is what you did. No mean shading or judgmental statements. And this simple joke will make the other person comfortable with you just like that.
Now try applying such humour to break the ice with your flight neighbour to strike up a conversation. It should work this time as well!
Be Curious to Know About Them
A conversation between two passengers in flight is a mixture of both sharing stuff about themselves. Because people love talking about their own life.
And it’s an irony that nowadays people don’t have time to share meaningful conversations even with their own family members. So, the person sitting next to you might really love this chance of talking about himself or herself.
And maybe you can share about yourself as well. The short time bond will feel meaningful!
The type of book they like to read, taste in music or movie genre or even recommendations for some good reads, all are valid topics of conversations that most people love to have.
Make Frequent Eye Contacts
Now, this does not mean giving creepy stares at people. It’s just something you can try while already having a conversation. Make frequent eye contact.
This gives the other person a feeling that you are being attentive to what they are saying. Not to mention the feeling that you are entirely present in the moment. And that fuels a great passion for keeping the conversation alive with the other person.
Ask If They Need Your Help
Anybody would love the person that offers them help. You can try helping your neighbour flight taker safely put their carry-on inside the overhead bin.
And they will instantly become fond of you. The conversation will be much easier to start that way. And it will also be simple to keep on chatting.
Personal Praises = Best Bond Mechanism
The person sitting next to you might have really pretty eyes. Or they are wearing an unusual type of shirt that looks super cute. Perhaps the piece of jewellery they are wearing looks something unique and praiseworthy.
Look for such reasons and give them a personal praising comment. People love it! And you get a good starting to a flight conversation.
You can ask them about the kind of stone the pendant they are wearing uses and compliment them at the same time. Tell them you too love Deadpool if a t-shirt of the comic is what they are wearing. And things like that.
Keep In Mind – You never want to make the comments seem intimating. For example, if their hair colour is real or even worse if that’s a wig. Telling someone they must work out as an indication to their great physique is also inappropriate.
Keeping Conversation Alive
This is for people with anxiety or those who are not really good at participating in conversations. Being self-conscious or nervous could also be likely reasons.
However, once you start a conversation, try your best to keep it alive as well. Fading away with quietness and a nod of the head after asking questions and they are answering, will make the whole mood even weird.
It’s okay to be your true selves and just engage in the conversation. They are strangers anyway, so you are not losing anything even if they end up judging you. Give it a try!
Ending The Conversation Well
Again, super important to keep the conversation meaningful. Often the ending is what determines a whole event. And if the person who was talking to you, feels unwanted because you suddenly went quiet, it will make the whole prior nice chat a waste of time and mood.
It’s okay if you need to sleep and so want to end the conversation. But suddenly turning over while the seatmate is still in the middle of completing his or her sentence, is rude!
You can do this instead. Show that you loved the meaningful chat and thank him or her for having one with you. And then politely ask him to excuse you, as you stretch your legs and gradually go to sleep.
Wrapping Up
And that was our guide for anyone wondering how do you talk to a stranger on a plane. Now if you have tried before and it only ended in an awful experience, don’t shut off forever approaching people on a flight just because of that.
You see, sometimes we can’t help it. And bad things happen. But that does not mean a guaranteed awful experience next time as well.
Aeroplane conversations can be wonderful, you just have to try without really looking at the chances of it going wrong.