52% of flyers want separate cabin for kids

A child is standing near the window at the airport.
By Hannah Edensor


Recent research has shown that people travelling on planes really wish families with young kids had their own separate cabin to sit in.

The stats come from the Airfarewatchdog Annual State of Travel Survey, which surveyed more than 4,000 travellers in the US to get their thoughts on the state of current air travel.

The research also showed that more than half of travellers would rather spend the day on a domestic flight than at the dentist (15.9 per cent), preparing tax returns (11.9 per cent), or at the US equivalent of the RTA in Australia (8.5 per cent).

When it came to things that do stress travellers out, however, things like pre-boarding processes and kids (read: screaming babies) caused a bit of grief.

Almost half of respondents (48.5 per cent) say the pre-boarding process (checking in, going through security, and so on) is what creates the most stress.

Researching and booking travel is a close second (27.8 per cent), although we have an easy solution for this one – get a travel agent!

More than half (52 per cent) feel that families with young children (age 10 and under) should be required to sit in a separate section of the plane, which is an interesting take-out.

But it’s not just kids apparently, with the study showing it’s all potential ‘seatmates’ that cause travellers anxiety.

The biggest worries were sitting next to someone who is coughing (39.3 per cent), has an unpleasant body odour (28 per cent) or is overweight (13.6 per cent). These problems are so high on the list for respondents that 40 per cent said they would pay extra to have an entire row on the plane to themselves.

Meanwhile, almost 60 per cent of people say that the government should regulate the in-flight experience, while almost 80 per cent say it should be illegal for airlines to overbook flights. And based on United’s experience, we all know how bad that can get.

The majority (almost 65 per cent) also said they never recline their seat into a fellow passenger’s lap because they feel bad.

 

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