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'Rear-Seat Kickers' Top Passengers' In-Flight Gripes
BELLEVUE, Wash. -- What's the biggest gripe of airline passengers? Rear-seat kickers, according to a survey by Expedia.com.
Last year, the first for the survey, "inattentive parents" topped the list of most aggravating airplane passengers. This year, "rear seat kickers" pushed parents down to second place.
Whatever their complaints, American flyers remain largely upbeat, with 78% agreeing that "for the most part, fellow passengers are considerate of other passengers."
The study was commissioned by Expedia and conducted by GfK.
The ranked list of onboard etiquette violators, from worst to least offensives:
- Rear-seat kicker (67%)
- Inattentive parents, 64%.
- The "aromatic" passenger, 56%.
- The audio-insensitive passenger (talking or music), 51%.
- The boozer, 50%.
- Chatty Cathy, 43%.
- Carry-on baggage offenders. 39%.
- The armrest hog, 38%.
- The seat-back recliner, 37%.
- The queue jumper who rushes to deplane, 35%.
- Overhead bin inconsideration, 32%.
- Pungent "foodies," 32%.
- Back-seat grabber, 31%.
- Passenger who reads or watches adult content, 30%.
- Inappropriate levels of displays of affection, 29%)
- The "mad bladder" (window seat passenger who makes repeat bathroom visits, 28%.
- The undresser (removes shoes, socks or more), 26%.
- The seat switcher, 13%.
More specifically, the report found:
- 78% of Americans agree with the statement, "A little small talk is fine, but I prefer to keep to myself during the flight." And, 16% of Americans report that they use flights as an opportunity to talk to and meet new people, and 65% dread the experience of sitting next to them.
- Only 12% of Americans report that they drink more than two alcoholic beverages during air travel, while on board or in the airport, while 80% say they never do; 48% report that they generally cannot sleep on planes.
- 5% of American flyers report that they "have been intimate" with someone on a plane. Of those, 3% report having been intimate with someone that they were traveling with and 2% have been intimate with someone that they met on that flight.
- Men are likelier to recline their seats than women; 32% of men reported that they don't do it compared with 38% of women. A total of 31% say they recline their seats to sleep, and 26% do so when the flight is longer than three hours.
- The majority, 55%, do not ask permission of the passenger behind them, while 23% do; 38% believe the practice should be banned entirely, or at least restricted.
- 21% of Americans report having experienced major discomfort due to a reclining seat. Disapproval of the behavior has prompted some consumers to block it, via tools such as the "Knee Defender," which prevents seats from reclining using strategically placed clips.
The ubiquitous availability of mobile devices also has made it far easier to record, and to shame, passengers who misbehave. When asked how they would react if a fellow passenger misbehaved on a flight, 48% said they would remain quiet and attempt to ignore the violation; 22% would confront a misbehaving passenger directly and 12% would record the incident using a mobile phone or a camera. Another 6% would leverage social media channels, including Twitter, to shame a fellow passenger, and 44% would address a parent if their child was kicking their seat.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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