Hi, my name is Randy Hill and I am just one of thousands of people around the world, tired and frustrated with the lack of consideration that is displayed by a growing "demographic" that I call, "the great unwashed and ill-mannered." People who can't seem to get outside their little world long enough to see the stress that they create on the rest of the population.
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Hey Travelers – Mind Your Manners!
By Randy | November 28, 2008
83 Percent Believe Air Travelers have Become Ruder in the Past Ten Years
Oblivious Parents Top List of Most Annoying Travelers
NEWTON, Mass., Nov. 25 /PRNewswire/ — TripAdvisor(R) (www.tripadvisor.com), the world’s largest travel community, today announced the results of a survey of more than 1,100 U.S. travelers about annoying and rude traveler behavior.
There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays…
But unfortunately, if you have to take a plane to get there, you’ll most likely encounter rude travelers. Eighty-three percent of respondents said air travelers have gotten ruder over the past 10 years, and 24 percent of respondents think travelers are ruder during the holidays.
Kids Gone Wild
When we asked respondents to identify the most annoying air travelers, oblivious parents topped the list (59 percent), followed by people who recline their seat during meal service and travelers who talk nonstop although you’re sending clear signals you want to be left alone. “The people traveling with kids and the people traveling without them tend to be equally vocal about how annoying the other group is,” said Michele Perry, vice president of global communications for TripAdvisor. “Perhaps it’s due to more kids flying during the holidays – or, rather, more parents unaccustomed to flying with their kids taking to the air.”
Clean Up on Aisle 6
Please make sure you leave time to take a quick shower before arriving at the airport, say 54 percent of travelers. Travelers with offensive body odor topped our list of rudest flyers, followed by people who talk on mobile phones at the top of their lungs while strolling through the airport, and people who are rude to airline staff. “If all else fails, you can buy deodorant in the airport shops,” said Perry. “And just because you have a Bluetooth headset doesn’t mean you need to use it constantly.”
Plane Talk
Speaking of mobile phones, 80 percent of respondents think allowing the use of them on planes will make people ruder.
Stop the Madness
Sixty-eight percent of respondents have asked another traveler to stop doing something rude. Thirty-five percent think a flight attendant should get involved when someone’s bad behavior bothers several people.
Rough Road
Mobile phones affect drivers as well – our respondents think the rudest drivers are those who jabber on their phones and do not pay attention to the road (55 percent.) The number two and three rudest drivers are, respectively, people who cut into exit lines at the last minute to jump in front of everyone, and people who tailgate.
We Hope You’re Not Sitting Next to These People
We asked our respondents to describe the rudest behavior they’ve ever seen on a flight. These are our favorites:
— A lady telling her kid to stop kicking the seat in front of them because the mean lady wants them to stop. — A man clipping his toenails while sprawling on the floor at the gate. — A party of nine preboarding and sitting in all the first-class seats because they had never flown before and thought it was “first come, first served.” They created a scene when they were told they could not sit in first-class by the airline stewardesses and that their tickets were in the coach section. This held up the flight 49 minutes. — A man in front of me picking scabs off his bald head. — A man loudly passing gas on the plane. Hello, you can’t open the windows!!! — A man yelling at a mom traveling by herself with a screaming baby… he told her to shut the kid up, when it was obvious she was trying to. The baby was less than a year old. — A person packed Thanksgiving leftovers into containers that leaked all over the overhead compartments and down onto passengers below on an extremely crowded flight. — A guy sitting next to me with a wad of chew, spitting into a cup throughout the flight. — An intoxicated woman who kept hugging me and touching me even though I asked her to stop. — A movie star changing his baby’s poopy diapers while sprawled across two seats in business class and then handing the dirty diaper to the flight attendant during meal service from LHR to LAX.
Stop the Insanity
So how do we solve the problem? Sixty-one percent of our respondents recommended following the Golden Rule (do unto other travelers as you’d have them do unto you) and 53 percent suggested that we all try to have a positive attitude. “We’re all in this together,” said Perry. “By minding our manners and adhering to basic travel etiquette – much of which is really just common sense – we can make holiday travel a little easier for everyone.”
TripAdvisor is a registered trademark of TripAdvisor LLC in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other logos or product and company names mentioned herein may be the property of their respective owners.
(C) 2008 TripAdvisor LLC. All rights reserved.
*Source: comScore Media Metrix, July 2008
SOURCE TripAdvisor, LLC
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