One year into an economic slowdown and there’s a growing legion of business travellers whose companies have downgraded their class of travel in efforts to control costs. As business travellers get used to flying at the back of the bus where there are smaller seats and less leg room, it’s time to look at some general rules of travel etiquette.

1 Aircraft seating

Rules apply whether you’re on the aisle, in the middle or by the window. First of all, business travellers with a weak bladder should either request an aisle seat or make sure they use the facilities before departure and not ask the cabin crew to refill their wine glasses too often. There is nothing more irritating than the passenger in the window seat repeatedly asking his row neighbours to move so that he can relieve himself.

Those narrow seats and shorter seat pitch can be particularly problematic for those with lanky limbs. Most company policies do not make exceptions for those who are 6 foot plus. However, your length is not your neighbours’ problem. Do not extend your arms or legs into their personal space.

Also, the convention is that because the person in the middle seat has the least space he/she is entitled to both armrests.

2 Overhead locker storage

With more and more airlines opting to charge for checked bags in order to swell their 'ancillary revenues', more and more passengers will be trying to stuff all their worldly goods into the overhead lockers. Use the locker above your row and remember that your fellow passengers are entitled to as much space, and their belongings as much care, as you.

3 Personal hygiene

As if the SARs outbreak of several years ago didn’t serve to remind people that they had been brought up always to cover their mouths when they cough, we now have the spectre of swine flu to point out that basic personal hygiene is not an optional extra; it’s being socially responsible.

And don’t take off your shoes if you’re wearing the same socks for the fifth day in a row.

4 Facilities

The ratio of toilets per passenger rises as the class of travel falls. On short-haul flights this is rarely an issue but on long-haul flights one toilet for 50 plus people can add to the pressures of flying – especially if one of the lavatories is marked “out of order”. So out of consideration for others use aircraft lavatories as a toilet facility rather than as a boudoir for applying full stage make-up.