The Definitive Guide to Air Travel for the Modern Gentleman

In my day, a journey from London to the Continent involved a carriage, a boat, another carriage and a great deal of complaint. I made the trip to Calais in 1816 rather faster than I would have liked, and with less luggage than I would have chosen.

You can now cross an ocean in an afternoon. This is a marvel. What is less marvellous is what people have decided to wear while doing it, and how they have decided to behave. Somewhere between the invention of the jet engine and the invention of the neck pillow, the art of travelling well was mislaid.

It can be recovered. It requires only a little preparation, a little restraint and the firm conviction that an aeroplane is a public place.

The first discipline of the modern traveller is the carry-on. Check a bag and you have entrusted your wardrobe to a system with a sense of humour. Carry it on and you walk out of the airport on arrival while others are still watching the carousel with the expression of men awaiting a verdict.

To travel with one bag, you must pack like an editor. Choose a colour scheme, navy, grey and white with one accent, and pack only what agrees with it. Every item must go with every other. Shoes are the heaviest decision; take two pairs at most and wear the bulkier one on the plane.

Roll knitwear and casual shirts. Fold tailoring along its natural lines, or better still, wear the jacket. Pack toiletries in the clear bag the rules require, whatever this year's rules happen to be, and keep that bag at the top so you can produce it without unpacking your life in front of strangers.

A small personal bag holds the essentials: passport, telephone, charger, a book, headphones, a pen for the forms, and a spare shirt in case the airline's plans and yours diverge.

Dressing for a flight is a negotiation between comfort and self-respect. Too many men concede the whole of the second to secure a little of the first.

You do not need a suit. You do need to look like a man who could, if required, be taken to dinner on arrival.

The jacket. An unstructured blazer in a soft wool or knit is the traveller's best friend. It has pockets for documents, it keeps you warm in an over-cooled cabin and it signals to the crew and the immigration officer that you are a serious person.

The layers. A fine merino knit or a good T-shirt beneath, which can be adjusted as the cabin swings between greenhouse and refrigerator. Avoid anything bulky. Avoid anything that requires assembly.

The trousers. Soft, dark and with a little stretch, or comfortable wool. Never shorts, unless your destination is a beach and you are already on it.

The shoes. Leather slip-ons or clean, minimal trainers that come on and off easily at security. Your shoes stay on your feet for the entire flight. A bare foot on an armrest is not a lifestyle. It is an assault.

The pillow. If you must wear an inflatable horseshoe, inflate it on board and deflate it before you leave the aircraft. It is a sleeping aid, not an accessory.

At security, be ready before you reach the tray. Belt, watch, coins, laptop and liquids should be anticipated in the queue, not discovered at the belt.

At the gate, remain seated until your group is called. Crowding the boarding lane does not get you on sooner. It merely tells everybody you have never flown before, or have flown far too often and learned nothing.

In the lounge, remember that it is a shared room and not your private study. Take calls somewhere quiet, keep them brief and never use the speakerphone. Take a reasonable plate from the buffet, not a harvest. Do not spread your coat, your bag and your laptop over three chairs to secure a territory you will occupy for forty minutes.

The free bar is not a challenge. A drink before a flight is civilised. Three is a medical decision.

The overhead bin. Place your bag in the bin nearest your seat, wheels first or as the crew directs, and put your jacket and smaller bag under the seat in front. The bin is not yours alone. A coat folded neatly on top of a full-sized case is a coat that has just deprived a stranger of a bag's worth of space.

The armrest. The passenger in the middle seat has the worst of everything. By long and widely shared convention, he receives both inner armrests. The window has the view. The aisle has the freedom. The middle has the elbows.

The recline. You are entitled to recline, but not suddenly and not during the meal. Glance behind you first. Return the seat upright when food is served, and before landing without needing to be asked twice.

The crew. Be courteous to them, call them only when necessary and thank them on the way out. They are responsible for your safety first and your comfort second, which is the correct order.

Disembarking. Rows leave in order, front to back. Standing up in row 31 the moment the aircraft stops achieves nothing except a crick in the neck and the irritation of rows 1 to 30.

Air travel has become more crowded and more casual, which makes the small courtesies, packing light, dressing presentably and respecting shared space, more noticeable rather than less. A disciplined carry-on and a few rules of conduct save time, reduce stress and make the people around you allies rather than adversaries. For travel and hospitality brands, those same passengers are among the most valuable customers: efficient, loyal and quietly appreciative of anything that makes flying feel civilised again.

Until next week,

B.

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Forward this to a man who stands up in row 31 the second the wheels touch down.