The perfect airline passenger, according to flight attendants, is a single male.
This was the key finding of a new survey of cabin crew, conducting by travel search site Skyscanner. The company polled more than 700 international flight attendants from 85 countries, asking about their main passenger preferences and annoyances. The result found that the ‘perfect passenger’ was a male in his 30s, travelling alone in economy class on a leisure trip, rather than business.
“This is the first time that we’ve surveyed international cabin crew and the findings give us a real insight into what they really think of passengers. And the results were certainly not what we expected,” said Skyscanner’s Sam Poullain. “Contrary to stereotypes, it’s interesting to see that it’s men who get the vote for the perfect passenger, while cabin crew prefer to work in economy rather than premium class.”
When asked about the most annoying passenger habits, flight attendants made it clear that they do not appreciate people clicking their fingers to get attention. This was named as the least desirable passenger trait, accounting for 26% of the vote. Leaving the seat too early on landing (13%) and trying to stuff too many bags in the overhead locker (11%) were also major irritants. It also appears that cabin crew do not appreciate fussy or demanding passengers, with asking for more blankets, different meals and specific drink brands all cited on the list of annoyances.
Stuffing rubbish in the seat compartments was also on high the list, identified as the main irritant for 9% of flight attendants.
