By Julius Ewudo, ASEAN Region Representative
With Aussie travellers raring to take off on new adventures, digital travel platform Agoda unveils a candid exploration of the less glamorous side of air travel.
From toilet hoggers to overly chatty neighbours, Agoda’s Travel Bugbears Survey 2023 delves into the realm of in-flight annoyances, highlighting even the smoothest flight can have its bumps.
Australian bugbears
Australian travellers ranked invasion of their personal space, passing wind and kicking off shoes to reveal wafty socks, their number one in-flight frustrations.
It’s followed by flight delays and the dread of sitting near a crying baby.
Across 10 countries Aussies ranked least sensitive to rowdy passengers.
Asia Pacific bugbears
Covering 10 Asia-Pacific markets, the survey found discourteous invasion of personal space the number one pet peeve for fliers.
Flight delays rank high across the board, coming in second on the list of passengers’ grievances.
The third biggest in-flight annoyance is loud passengers – overly chatty ‘seatmates\’, couples airing their dirty laundry in public, or raucous groups broadcasting their music or games across the entire flight.
Unlike Aussies, travellers from Taiwan, South Korean and Japan appreciate a more peaceful flying experience.
Japanese are the only market to express an intolerance for disruptive passengers who are rude to cabin crew as their top grievance.
“For many of us, the holiday fun starts the moment we board a plane,” said Vice President of Global Partner Services, Agoda Liyana Jamil. “But while flying is generally an enjoyable experience, it sometimes comes with minor grievances. There are over 130,000 bookable flight routes on Agoda, and 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.”
Agoda built its global reputation as an online booking platform for hotels and vacation homes but has seen flight bookings grow popular since the introduction of flights on the platform in 2019.
