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Fellow airline passengers, how do we hate you? Let us count the ways

You can load up the seat back pocket on your next flight, but don't dare kick the seat. Seat kicking is the most irritating in-flight behavior, according to a recent Expedia survey.
(Mark Shaver / For The Times)
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There’s no red carpet or statuette, but the award for the most annoying in-flight behavior on a plane goes to … seat kicking. It’s the second year in a row seat kickers have taken the top spot. Worse yet, people are reluctant to confront any passenger who’s behaving badly.

That’s the findings from Expedia’s Airplane Etiquette Study released Tuesday. More than 1,000 American adults were asked online to disclose what behaviors bug them most when they’re in the air.

Seat kickers get on the nerves of 64% of respondents. The next most irritating things, according to the study, are:

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  • inattentive parents who allow their kids to misbehave,
  • “aromatic” passengers (they either reek of body odor or wear too much cologne),
  • passengers who talk loudly or make other noise without considering others,
  • drunken, disruptive passengers, and
  • seat mates who talk incessantly.

And here’s something 35% of those polled said they wouldn’t mind paying for: sitting in a designated quiet zone, if such a perk were ever offered.

With all this animosity, why aren’t there more fistfights on planes? Because no one wants to get into it.

The study says 62% of irritated passengers would call a flight attendant to handle the situation, and 33% said they would just suffer in silence.

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Who are those fliers who’ve been making whoopie on board? Just 3% of respondents admit to having been “physically intimate” with someone on a plane.

On the whole, though, we like flying with each other!

Most (74%) say they feel fliers are considerate of each other; some said they had helped another passenger with their luggage or offered to move seats if needed.

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travel@latimes.com

@latimestravel

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