Flight frustrations aired - Things you do on planes that anger other passengers:
1. Thud, thud, thud. Excuse me, would you mind stopping that? THUD. THUD. THUD. If this sounds at all familiar then chances are you are among the 97.9% of travellers who loathe seatback kickers in the row behind. The figure comes from a poll by the travel website Travelocity, whose readers despised this favourite pastime of bored children more than any other travel irritant. What many travellers don't realise, however, is that rooting around in the back-of-seat storage pocket or leaning against the seat in front as they get up and down has much the same effect on their seething neighbours.
2. On a similar theme, the travel community TripAdvisor conducted a survey on family travel in April. It revealed that 79% of Britons believed there should be child-free zones on planes (interestingly, that figure includes 71% of parents). But it seems the children themselves are not the main target of travellers irritation: rather, it is their oblivious parents for not controlling them better. "The people travelling with kids and the people travelling without them tend to be equally vocal about how annoying the other group is," said Michele Perry, vice-president of global communications for TripAdvisor.
3. Some people read, some sleep and some wile away the long hours in the air by getting to know the people in the neighbouring seats. But while recounting your life story to complete strangers may seem like a friendly thing to do, beware the strained smile and glazed eyes. In another TripAdvisor survey, of the most annoying behaviour among air passengers, travellers who yabber nonstop despite you sending clear signals you want to be left alone made a surprise appearance at No 3 in the list.
4. Perhaps airlines should hand out smelling salts and air fresheners on long haul flights. It seems there is much call for them. Fellow passengers with bad breath and BO have been voted the very worst people to sit next to on a flight in a recent poll by the Travel search site Skyscanner. Almost one-fifth of respondents found such malodorous companions unbearable. Barry Smith, Skyscanner co-founder and director, said: Take a shower and pack breath mints before boarding a flight if you want to stay on the good side of your fellow passengers. For any budding entrepreneurs, there is obviously a big market here for some form of nose plug.
5. Eating pungent or crunchy food is another habit that gets your fellow travellers hot under the collar, according to TripAdvisors survey of annoying travel behaviour. Whiffy cheese-and-onion crisps, rustling sweets and egg and bacon sandwiches are all common offenders but if it can be smelt or heard from a seat away, chances are youre offending somebody.
6. Another olfactory offender: you have just settled on to the flight and are starting to think about your stomach, hoping to catch a whiff of approaching food, when another more unsavoury smell assails your nostrils sweaty feet in the row behind. Bang! There goes your appetite, and with it any chance of a pleasant flight. Wantonly shoeless people were another candidate for the stocks in Skyscanners poll of the people you would least like to sit next to on an aeroplane. A spokesman for the company, Sam Baldwin, said: While it may be more comfortable for you to remove your shoes, make sure youve got your odour eaters on if you want to stay on the right side of your fellow travellers.
7. Partaking of a sip of wine with your meal is one thing. Downing your duty free and giving a rousing rendition of the national anthem is another. Drunken travellers also stumbled close to the top of the list in the Skyscanner poll of irritating fellow passengers. The company's spokesman Sam Baldwin says: Loud drunkards are especially annoying; your heart sinks when you realise youre going to be stuck behind a rowdy stag or hen party for the whole flight. Unless youre part of the party yourself, of course!
8. You know what to expect from economy class: small seats, limited legroom and minimal personal space. But any further encroachment on to our own little patch of airspace is enough to make the best of us fume. For such an apparently low-level offence, armrest hoggers were a perhaps surprising inclusion among the most despised categories in the Skyscanner survey. Sam Baldwin told us: Theres always going to be conflict over that middle armrest. Maybe airlines need to introduce some sort of armrest timeshare system?
9. One of the few recourses left to comfort in a cattle-class seat is to recline your chair and take a snooze. But even this can trigger acute bouts of air rage from your fellow passengers, it seems. The Tripadvisor poll listed reclining your seat without asking as one of the 10 most annoying travel habits. As airlines cut down on already meagre legroom in a bid to fit ever more seats on to their planes, its hardly surprising that passengers fear for their kneecaps. There is even a controversial little gadget called a Knee Defender on the market, which prevents the seat in front from reclining.
10. Stocking up on duty free goodies is one of the few distractions during long waits in the airport. But precious overhead luggage space is another battle ground for passengers, according to the TripAdvisor study. Stowing too much baggage or too slowly both infuriated the polls respondents, and taking luggage down just as soon as the plane has landed was another common bugbear.
11. So far we have only scratched the surface of all the habits that irk our fellow travellers. The surveys all highlighted a multitude of other offenders: the snorers, the dribblers, the floppers and the sneezers among them. Then there are the people getting up before the seatbelt sign is turned off, and those that read over their neighbours shoulders.
How many of those can you identify with?
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what software etc do you need?
Now I'm looking at a refurbished iPod Touch!!!
Country is she out of her mind. That she gets from her father.
