What really gets your goat as a passenger? A new study has revealed Australian flyers’ bugbears and our top pet plane peeves may surprise you …
Topping the list of our inflight frustrations, according to Agoda’s Travel Bugbears Survey 2023, is the invasion of our personal space, which for those of us not flying business or first, is already limited. So no real surprise there.
Our second biggest annoyance is the passing of wind (others’, not ours) – though we mightn’t seek compensation like a Kiwi couple who recently sat next to a gassy dog for 13 hours.
Still on scent, and the third most frustrating thing about flying for Aussie travellers are smelly socks when others kick off their shoes.
Interestingly, flight delays ranked fourth on the list while the dread of sitting near a crying baby made it into our top five pet peeves.
Surprisingly, across the ten nationalities polled in the study, Aussies ranked least sensitive to rowdy passengers.
Overall across Asia-Pacific, the invasion of personal space was also the number one grievance among flyers, but flight delays ranked second on the list.
The third biggest annoyance are loud passengers, chatty ‘seatmates’, couples airing their dirty laundry in public, and raucous groups broadcasting their music or games for an entire flight.
“For many of us, the holiday fun starts the moment we board a plane,” said Liyana Jamil, Vice President of Global Partner Services, Agoda.
“But while flying is generally an enjoyable experience, it sometimes comes with minor grievances.
“I hope that the findings of this light-hearted survey create awareness, increase consideration, and make the in-flight experience on any of these routes even more enjoyable.”
