What annoys you about flying?
Taking up too much space on a plane was voted the most irritating in-flight habit across Europe by two thirds of more than 6,600 respondents from the UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy.
Hot on the heels of space invaders comes the sound of screaming children feared by well over half (59 per cent) of air passengers. Drunken and disorderly behaviour takes third place in the poll with 53 per cent of the votes.
When it comes to fellow passengers, the survey found that families with young children are the most dreaded neighbours as voted for by a quarter of Europeans. Interestingly, Britons dread taking a flight with stag parties as much as a family of young children with both scoring a third of the votes amongst UK travellers.
Overall, more than half of passengers have suffered in silence when annoyed on a plane. Of the five countries polled, Britons are most likely to take action to avoid passenger annoyances with almost three quarters having done so compared to just a third of the Italians.
True to form, over a third (36 per cent) of British air passengers are most likely to request a new seat to move away from the source of the annoyance compared to only one in ten French travellers. A quarter of UK travellers even pay extra to sit elsewhere, indexing much higher than the European average of just seven per cent.
Extreme measures include taking a sleeping pill or turning to alcohol to numb the pain with UK passengers most likely to do so compared to the other regions.
Top European passenger gripes when travelling by plane
1. Neighbours using too much space (60%)
2. Screaming children (59%)
3. Drunken passengers (53%)
4. Loud conversations (38%)
5. Passengers listening to loud music (29%)
6. Passengers eating noisily/messily (29%)
7. Snoring passengers (27%)
8. Applauding after landing (25%)
9. Chatty neighbours (18%)
10. Flirtatious neighbours (8%)
This seat is taken… Most dreaded type of passenger in Europe
1. Families with young children (26%)
2. School trips (17%)
3. Stag parties (13%)
4. Large groups of students (11%)
5. Hen parties (5%)
6. Amorous couples (4%)
What annoys you when flying? Tell us in the comments below or tweet us @FemaleFirst_UK
FemaleFirst
Shabana Adam
Tagged in Travel Travel Safety