Online travel agency Expedia Inc. announced the results of survey on “air travel manners” on 17 September 2019.

The survey was conducted on a global scale targeting people who had traveled by air within recent one-year time frame, and the research focused on 18,237 people from 23 countries including male and female respondents.

Three topics were covered in the survey:

①     manners of air travelers

②     asking flight attendants for assistance in regard to airplane etiquette

③     most “annoying” type of travelers.

In regard to the first topic, the survey revealed Japanese air travelers are most patient as 26 percent responded they “wouldn’t speak up in case a person sitting next to them encroached on their space”. This indicates reserved nature of Japanese people as “26 percent” is highest in the world.

Meanwhile, almost half of worldwide respondents, averaging 45 percent, said they would “speak directly” to a fellow passenger taking over their space.

Forty-nine percent of Japanese respondents said they would “ask for a flight attendant’s assistance” rather than speak to a perpetrator directly when “an airplane passenger from the back seat keeps kicking with their legs”. While only 19 percent of Japanese travelers said they would “talk to a bothersome passenger directly”, the number is 40 percent for worldwide population.

While Japanese travelers find “inebriated passengers” most troublesome, second place goes to back seat passengers who kick and hold the front seat, “germ-spreading sickly passengers” taking third place in the poll.

Whereas travelers from around the world share on average similar views about irksome behavior in the air, the respondents in America, where wearing masks is not common, found “sneezing and coughing on-board” most bothersome. In France, travelers “wearing perfume” and “speaking loudly” were pointed out as exasperating.

※ Scope of the survey

  • Sample: 18,237 persons
  • Period: 12-29 April, 2019
  • Methodology: internet research
  • Countries: USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, UK, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Japan

※ percentage numbers rounded to nearest whole number

Reference source:
https://welove.expedia.co.jp/press/46877/
Expedia Inc.