Travel Wires

Grumbles from the cheap seats I Just like our position in the magazine, Travel Wires flies at the back of the plane. Unlike the Travel Editor, whose column is right up the front on p2 and whose backside tends to planted in Business Class. Which means that your Travel Wires correspondents can relate to today’s piece of ground- . . . Sorry, air-breaking piece of research, Expedia’s Airplane Etiquette Study.

The survey of more than 1000 Americans set out to find the best and worst in-flight passengers.

Of all common misbehaviours, including inattentive parenting, undressing and overly enthusiastic conversationalists, the Rear-Seat Kicker was picked by 65 per cent as the worst. Grumbles from the cheap seats II Second on Expedia’s list (59 per cent) Inattentive Parents: “Parents who have no control over, or pay no attention to, their crying, whining or misbehaved children.”

Third (55 per cent): the Aromatics: “Those with poor hygiene or those wearing excessive cologne or perfume.”

Other faux pas include the “Audio Insensitive”, who talks loudly or listens to music without consideration for fellow fliers (49 per cent). The Boozer also peeves off 49 per cent. Chatty Cathy — who strikes up conversation and never stops — is the person most passengers dread sitting beside. Respondents claim they’d pay more to sit in a designated quiet zone if the airline had one. Watch that space then. Grumbles from the cheap seats III The Back-Seat Guy, who immediately reclines the seat after take-off — is next most disliked. The survey found 37 per cent would choose to have reclining seats banned entirely, or restricted on short-haul flights. Only one in 10 would confront the passenger in question directly, but 13 per cent would record it on their phone. You’re likely to also get socially shamed, with 5 per cent venting on social media. Grumbles from the cheap seats IV Other annoyances: The Queue Jumper (35 per cent), The Armrest Hog (34 per cent), Pungent Foodies (30 per cent), The Undresser (28 per cent), The Amorous (28 per cent), The Mad Bladder (22 per cent) and The Single and Ready to Mingle (18 per cent), a demographic who, perhaps sadly, has never bothered us.

And only 42 per cent pay attention to safety presentations “occasionally”. So are Air New Zealand’s videos worth spending the big bucks on?