When it comes to behavior on the plane, unsurprisingly, the top three annoying behaviors involve the invasion of personal space: sitting in a seat that’s being kicked, smelling a fellow passenger’s body odor, and sitting behind someone who reclines the seat too far. After all, there’s no way to escape these annoyances when you’re 30,000 feet in the air.
But according to the survey, even more travelers are annoyed by obnoxious behavior in the airport. The top pet peeves mainly involve noise and chaos – no fun for weary travelers who just want to get to their destination. Loud music is the biggest offender, followed by kids running wild and fellow travelers who have too much to drink at the airport bar.
Unfortunately for passengers, some of the most obnoxious inflight behavior is also the most prevalent: Passengers report frequently witnessing kicking seats and reclining too far. But the pet peeve they most often notice is a refusal to share the armrest.
In the airport, respondents often see fellow travelers rushing up to crowd the boarding gate. They also see frequent instances of people saving seats with suitcases, parents allowing children to misbehave, and travelers standing still on the moving sidewalk. (Thankfully, participants report relatively few sightings of the tipsy person knocking back Bloody Marys at the airport bar.)