Drunkenness, PDA, in-flight grooming, behavior that irritates passengers

Taking a flight is the fastest mode of transportation for traveling long distances, and a happy flight experience is the result of many things, including your carrier and inflight services. However, a survey of YouGov has revealed that the behavior of other passengers can have a significant impact on the journey.

The survey covered 18 international markets and tried to investigate the behaviors that passengers find most irritating.

Drunkenness

The survey data revealed that drunkenness is the least acceptable behavior among consumers globally. More than half (55 percent) of those surveyed said it is completely unacceptable to them. On the other hand, one in five respondents said they find it somewhat acceptable.

Cleanliness

On the issue of grooming, 55 percent of consumers said they find it unacceptable. Personal grooming included acts such as combing one’s hair or cutting one’s nails.

PDAs

Interestingly, only 28 percent of those surveyed found public displays of affection (PDA) to be unacceptable. In fact, PDA was one of the most tolerated behaviors in the YouGov survey.

Children

The survey also asked questions about loud and boisterous children over the age of four, with 51 percent of respondents saying they found such behavior unacceptable. On the other hand, only 23 percent of those surveyed said they found crying babies on the flight unacceptable.

Media playback without headphones

However, when it comes to making a plane ride more difficult, it’s the sound from devices playing media without headphones that takes the cake. Six in ten respondents said they find such behavior unacceptable. Only one in five (18 percent) of those surveyed said they could tolerate such behavior.

take off shoes

The survey asked questions about passengers who remove their shoes, and more than half (51 percent) of those surveyed said removing their shoes or socks is a big no-no for them. However, the survey found that front passengers who fully reclined their seats were even more annoying than someone who removed their shoes.

Male and female respondents

The survey noted that there was a general trend for female consumers to be more intolerant of various behaviors. For example, 81 percent of women said drunkenness was unacceptable, compared to 70 percent of men who said the same.

Not wearing headphones presented similar results, with 64 percent of female passengers and 55 percent of male passengers finding it unacceptable. The survey reported that crying babies is the only airplane behavior that male respondents (25 percent) find more objectionable than their female counterparts (21 percent).

The UAE was an outlier when it came to being tolerant of passenger behaviour. It was found that UAE passengers are generally more accepting of most aircraft behaviors compared to passengers from other international markets.