As long as airlines continue to squeeze more seats on planes with less room per passenger, and as long as there are people out there who believe everyone in the cabin wants to smell their tuna fish sandwich, air travel is going to be annoying. Someone has to be the most annoying of all however, and according to a new survey, that person could be sitting behind you on your next flight.
Seat kickers took the No. 1 spot in an annual etiquette survey from Expedia, using results from interviews with 1,019 randomly selected U.S. adult residents: 61% of Americans cited seat-kicking as the most annoying in-flight concern, with “inattentive parents” coming in for a close second at 59%.
We are a country that doesn’t like strong smells in contained places, either: the “Aromatic Passenger” (someone who exhibits poor hygiene or is otherwise emitting a strong odor) was the third least-liked passenger, with 50% of respondents saying that’s annoying.
“Planes continue to fly full, never more so than during this season, when millions of Americans will fly to be with their families for the holidays,” said John Morrey, vice president and general manager, Expedia.com in a press release. “Inside a packed plane at 30,000 feet, both good behavior and bad behavior are amplified. Respecting our fellow passengers is a small but important gift we can all give each other.”
Again, just as a reminder: no one is allowed to eat a stinky tuna sandwich in an airplane unless that person is Sir Patrick Stewart.
Here’s the full list of onboard annoyances:
1. Rear Seat Kicker (cited by 61% of study respondents)
2. Inattentive Parents (59%)
3. The Aromatic Passenger (50%)
4. The Audio Insensitive (talking or music) (50%)
5. The Boozer (45%)
6. Chatty Cathy (43%)
7. Carry-On Baggage Offenders (38%)
8. The Queue Jumper (rushes to deplane) (35%)
9. Seat-Back Guy (the seat recliner) (32%)
10. Overhead Bin Inconsiderate (stows bag in first available spot, rather than nearest to seat)(32%)
11. Pungent Foodies (30%)
12. Back Seat Grabber (27%)
13. The Amorous (inappropriate affection levels) (26%)
14. Undresser (removes shoes, socks or more) (26%)
15. Mad Bladder (window seat passenger who makes repeat bathroom visits) (24%)
16. The Single and Ready to Mingle (13%)
17. The Seat Switcher (13%)
by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist