From armrest hogs to aisle rushers, a new survey reveals the in-flight behaviors that frustrate American travelers most.Show Caption
Sometimes it's not delays or long queues that make air travel stressful. It's other travelers.Hotel-booking platform HotelTonight surveyed 447 of its American adult users in June about what annoys them the most during travel. The findings had nothing to do with the airlines or airports but concerned the behavior of fellow passengers instead."It was no surprise that travelers have strong opinions about airport etiquette. What stood out to me was that the biggest frustrations weren't necessarily security lines or boarding groups, but the small personal-space issues that happen once you're on the plane," Aleem Ahmed, business lead at HotelTonight, told USA TODAY in a statement.Here are the biggest travel pet peeves for Americans, according to HotelTonight.Top 5 travel pet peeves▶ Armrest battles: American travelers are most likely to be irritated when their seatmate hogs the armrest, according to 40% in the survey. (Who has the right to the armrest remains a controversial topic, with over half of travelers saying they don't believe both armrests belong to the middle seat either, according to a 2023 KAYAK survey of over 1,000 adults.)▶ Hold your horses: Following closely behind is when passengers are impatient. In the survey, 39% of travelers said they get annoyed when people immediately stand in the aisle before it's their turn to deplane.▶ Quiet onboard: It seems that travelers also want peace and quiet on their flights, with 27% saying chatty seatmates are their pet peeve. "We also found more than a quarter of travelers find overly chatty seatmates frustrating," said Ahmed. "It's always okay to politely let someone know you'd like to rest, but I'd also encourage travelers to stay open to conversation. Sometimes the best travel stories come from the people you meet along the way! Plus, they may even have recommendations for places to eat or where to stay."▶ Wait your turn & keep your seat: Other behaviors that travelers don't like include trying to board the plane before their boarding group is called, cited by 25% of respondents, and asking to switch seats with someone, cited by 20%.
