Air travelers often lack etiquette so when you're faced with flying in a middle seat with armrest hogs on either side, being seated next to a screaming child (not your own) or having your laptop jammed hen the person in front reclines their seat all the way, what do you do?
Travel Leaders Group asked those types of questions of 1,788 travelers in a fifth annual survey; this year's poll was conducted between March 15 and April 8.
Consumers were engaged on Facebook and Twitter, as well as at the following Travel Leaders Group companies, Nexion, Results! Travel, Travel Leaders, Tzell Travel Group and Vacation.com.
Interestingly, nearly 70 percent of flyers would say something directly to the passenger in front of them if their personal space was invaded with an article of clothing or someone's hair, while more than 77 percent of those polled would take some sort of action if the person in front of them reclined so much that they were unable to lower the tray table or open up a laptop.
But a sense of timidness emerged as well; nearly half (48.9 percent) of flyers polled said they'd sit quietly and say nothing if stuck in a middle seat without access to either armrest.
"As their travel agent experts, we hear directly from our clients who share similar complaints regarding their experiences," said Barry Liben, CEO, Travel Leaders Group (www.travelleadersgroup.com) . "In our survey, we wanted to know how many travelers proactively take some sort of action to resolve those situations."
Key Statistics and Findings
Say something directly to your seatmates. | 27.9% |
Call a flight attendant and let him/her handle the situation. | 2.6% |
Sit quietly and say nothing. | 48.9% |
Not sure. | 20.6% |
When asked, “If the person in the airline seat in front of you invaded your personal space with an article of clothing and/or their hair so it was directly in front of you, what would you do?” the responses were:
Say something directly to the person. | 68.9% |
Call a flight attendant and let him/her handle the situation. | 9.3% |
Sit quietly and say nothing. | 13.0% |
Not sure. | 8.8% |
When asked, “If the person in the airline seat in front of you reclined their seat so much that you were unable to lower you tray table or perhaps unable to open up a laptop, what would you do?” the responses were:
Say something directly to the person. | 55.4% |
Call a flight attendant and let him/her handle the situation. | 21.8% |
Sit quietly and say nothing. | 15.1% |
Not sure. | 7.7% |
When asked, “If the person in the airline seat in front of you ignored crew member instructions to have their seat back upright for takeoff and/or landing, what would you do?” the responses were:
Say something directly to the person. | 13.4% |
Call a flight attendant and let him/her handle the situation. | 28.1% |
Sit quietly and say nothing. | 50.1% |
Not sure. | 8.4% |
When asked, “If you were on a flight next to a person who insisted on trying to talk to you the entire flight, what would you do?” the responses were:
Use a book or other reading materials to try to limit the conversation. | 38.1% |
Put on headphones and use a book or other reading materials to limit conversation. | 18.9% |
Engage them in conversation for the whole flight. | 12.2% |
Specifically let that person know that you would prefer not to talk. | 10.4% |
Put on headphones to try to limit the conversation. | 8.7% |
Pretend to sleep try to limit the conversation. | 7.4% |
Put on headphones and pretend to sleep. | 4.3% |
When asked, “If you were on a flight with someone who talked so loudly that half the plane could hear them, what would you do?” the responses were:
Say something directly to the person. | 14.4% |
Call a flight attendant and let him/her handle the situation. | 27.9% |
Sit quietly and say nothing. | 36.0% |
Not sure. | 21.7% |
When asked, “What would you do if it appeared parents of a screaming child aboard a plane were not making any attempt to comfort/control their child?” the responses were:
Say something directly to the person. | 7.9% |
Call a flight attendant and let him/her handle the situation. | 46.7% |
Sit quietly and say nothing. | 30.6% |
Not sure. | 14.8% |