Study zeroes in on factors that make travellers go ‘insane’ on the plane

With travellers across the globe raring to take off on new adventures, digital travel platform Agoda unveils a candid exploration of the less glamorous side of air travel.

From overly chatty neighbors to lavatory hoggers, Agoda’s Travel Bugbears Survey 2023 delves into the realm of in-flight annoyances, highlighting that even the smoothest flight can have its bumps.

The survey, covering 10 markets across Asia, found discourteous invasion of personal space as the number one pet peeve for fliers. People from South Korea, Thailand and Taiwan are most offended by personal space invasion, be it the war on arm-rest territory or the production of bodily noises and unpleasant smells from uncovered feet.

Unsurprisingly, flight delays rank high, coming in second on the list of passengers’ grievances across Asia Pacific. The patience of travellers from the Philippines especially reaches a tipping point when it comes to flight delays as they rank it their top bugbear, a sentiment echoed by travellers from Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Ranking as the third biggest in-flight annoyance across the region is the presence of loud passengers, like overly chatty seatmates, couples washing their dirty laundry in public or raucous groups broadcasting their music or games across the entire flight. Australians and Malaysians are least sensitive to noise while Taiwan and South Korean travellers appreciate more peaceful flying experiences. Japanese, too, appreciate the peace and quiet, but also are the only market that expresses intolerance for disruptive passengers who are rude to cabin crew as their top grievance.

Zooming in on the answers of Indian respondents, travellers from India rate delayed flights as their main source of irritation, with loud travellers and discourteous behaviour tying in second. The infamous armrest war takes third place.

India: Travelers from India rate delayed flights as their main source of irritation, with loud travelers and discourteous behavior tying in second. The infamous armrest war takes third place.

Malaysia: Flight delays are the top source of annoyance for Malaysian travelers, with almost a quarter of respondents rating it as the ultimate in-flight bugbear. This is followed by discourteous behavior of other traveler, with disturbance by loud passengers and people being rude to airline staff tying in third.

Philippines: Close to a third of travellers from the Philippines mention delayed flights as their main concern. Other sources of annoyances are their fellow travellers, namely passengers who are rude to service staff and those who displayed discourteous behaviour.

Indonesia: For Indonesian travelers, flight delays are the leading source of frustration, with close to a quarter of respondents rating it as their biggest bugbear. This is followed by discourteous passengers and excessively noisy travelers.

Thailand: Discourteous behavior from fellow travelers is the number one bugbear for Thai travelers, with close to a quarter rating it as the prime annoyance. While flight delays come in second, travelers also express disdain for passengers who are rude to service staff or are too loud.

Vietnam: The chief irritant for Vietnamese is a delayed flight, followed closely by discourteous behavior of fellow travelers. Loud passengers round off the top three.

South Korea: Reflecting the general trend, most travellers from South Korea are annoyed by discourteous behavior of fellow passengers, with the next biggest irritant being disruptively loud travelers. The “seat recline dilemma” — referring to passenger reclining their seat without checking — is the third most mentioned concern among Korean travelers.

Japan: Japan is the only market where passengers being rude to service staff are the primary source of flight annoyances. Discourteous behaviour by fellow travellers comes in second and loud passengers take third place.

Australia: Discourteous behavior from fellow travelers is the number one bugbear for Australian travelers, with around a fifth of respondents rating it as the prime annoyance. While flight delays come in second, Australians also dread the thought of sitting near a crying baby.

Taiwan: Discourteous behavior ties with loud passengers for first place among Taiwanese travelers. While flight delays come in second Taiwanese also dread the thought of sitting near a crying baby.

The Agoda Travel Bugbears 2023 research was conducted by independent market research firm, YouGov, in July 2023. 12,065 respondents were interviewed online and are representative of those who have been on holiday at least once in the past year.