Ya, this is pretty messed up and rude. I do ask about water too, just in case. I just don't touch anything without asking. Usually after I ask, the crew says "help yourself to anything" and then I don't have to worry about stepping on anyone's toes. A lot of times I'll ask the crew if they need me to do anything to help out too.

Also, I always ask if I can bring my bags up. Maybe I'm anal, but I even ask on the Airbus...you just never know. I had a j/s (old timer) come up and just stick his bag where I usually put mine and not ask or say anything. For a second, I thought he had brought my bag up for me...NOT! I thought it was kind of rude.


On the DC8, I usually just sit down in one of the cockpit jumpseats and keep to myself. That's the best way I found to stay out of the way on the 8.