If you've ever been on a non-stop flight with a non-stop talker seated next to you, then you just might agree with the findings from Cheapflights.com latest poll on airplane etiquette offenses. The poll of over 2,000 travelers revealed that incessant talkers are the most offensive airline etiquette violators - beating out rapid seat-recliners, arm rest hogs, carry-on luggage abusers, and even seat back grabbers, among others. Interestingly, flyers voted frequent bathroom visitors as the least offensive airplane etiquette violators, and only 10 percent cited cell phone abusers - those who fail to power down their cell phone despite repeated requests from flight attendants - as the most heinous in-flight etiquette offenders.
What's the important takeaway for travelers? "The next time you are in a window seat, don't feel so bad about asking your fellow aisle-mates to move so you can get to the lavatory. Just don't grab the person's seat in front of you as you get up and on your way," said Carl Schwartz, director of marketing for Cheapflights.com.
What can travelers do to avoid future airplane etiquette violations? "Considering that incessant talkers and rapid seat recliners accounted for nearly half of poll responses, it seems that these are by far the most intolerable offenses to fellow travelers. Refraining from these two activities alone will go a long way in creating a more pleasurable flying experience for everyone," Schwartz said.
Cheapflights.com Airplane Etiquette Poll Results: Which of the following airplane etiquette violators do you find the most offensive?
Incessant Talker: Chatters non-stop 23%
Rapid Recliner: Wheels up, in your lap 20%
Arm Rest Hog: Elbow wrestling, you lose 12%
Carry-on Champ: Bashes bags left and right 12%
Seat Back Grabber: Grabs your seat to get up 11%
Who Me?: Yes, you; turn off your cell phone 10%
Flight DJ: iPod loud enough for all 3%
The Boozer: Unscheduled landing anyone? 3%
Mad Bladder: Quaff-n-go maniac 1%
Cheapflights.com publishes the most diverse range of flight deals from the widest selection of travel companies, including consolidators, travel agencies, destination specialists and airlines, including low-cost carriers. Every day, Cheapflights.com lists nearly one million low-cost airfare deals from hundreds of different travel providers, such as Priceline, Travelocity, Expedia, Spirit Airlines, American Airlines, WestJet and bookairlinetickets.com - including airfare deals not available anywhere else. Consumers don't pay any fees to use Cheapflights.com, where they can quickly find great airfare deals leaving from more than 400 departure points and flying to over 700 US and international destinations.
The Cheapflights.com "Airplane Etiquette" online poll was conducted over a four-week period between January and February 2007 via the Cheapflights.com blogsite "Flight News" and weekly "Travel Deals Alert" newsletter. Results are based on 2,010 responses.
About Cheapflights.com and Cheapflights, Ltd.
Cheapflights.com is a leading, independent travel price search and comparison site. Launched in the U.S. in June 2003, it currently serves 2.5 million unique users per month. Hitwise, a leading online measurement company, ranks Cheapflights.com thirteenth among top US travel sites. For more information, visit www.cheapflights.com.
Founded in London in 1996, Cheapflights Ltd. - the UK's leading price search and comparison site (www.cheapflights.co.uk) - pioneered the travel search category and quickly grew to become the leading travel search Web site in the UK. The first independent online price search and comparison portal for travel deals, Cheapflights Ltd. also pioneered the Travel Search Engine (TSE) concept and was the first travel site to introduce a pay-per-click (PPC) model for advertisers.
