12 most annoying things about air travel in 2010.

[Nottingham Nick]

Link to USA Today survey.

Surprisingly, baggage fees are #1, in the US centric poll.

Noisy / unruly babies and kids scrape in at #12 and flight delays are a middle of the road 7. ?|

I think a V-Flyer poll would have things a little different. :w

Nick

Three most important issues- valid for nearly any company

Service, Service, Communication

If only they'd listen to their revenue stream...(again same for nearly any company)

issues relating to inter-customer issues, says something about the US flying demographic - "babies cry, its the norm, but don't nick my armrest you ..*!**xx!!"

"babies cry, its the norm, but don't nick my armrest you ..*!**xx!!"

yes! that blooming screaming baby better not nick my armrest or my space on the overhead locker or get my hot towel or get to immigration or baggage claim before I do or get airmiles or a better ammenity kit or a treatment in the CH or the last beef-chicken-vege option

This is obviously a US based survey (& it's a good 5yrs since I have done an internal US flight). However, I like the "people who hog overhead space" bit. Even going back 5yrs, which was before the US airlines started charging for checked / carry-on bags I believe, it never failed to amaze me what some passengers considered to be a "carry-on".

Obviously, the introduction of checked baggage charges will only have made matters far worse. The words "pot, kettle & black" do come to mind!

At one point, about 5-10 years ago, didn't some US airports put "bag sizers" on the x-ray machines at security so that only a standard sized carry-on could fit through & thus avoid being checked? Why did this practice end, as it sounded like a good way to police the carry-on baggage size - if you could not get it past the checkpoint, then it had to be checked-in.

Just my thoughts....

James

Can i add fellow passengers who appear to be under the infleunce of things stronger than what cabin crew wheel out on trolley's

(i'd never call our hard working airline staff "trolley dollies" they work too hard and they hardly ever get credit; i find the term degrading)

Anyhoo enough of my yammering and onto my story...

Flying BA back in 2005 and these women were at first really subdued as soon as we get over the atlantic these women started stripping off theri clothes v( n( and shouting about the films so loudly that i could hear it throught my headphones. These women were so off it that the cabin crew were nervous of approaching them. in the end after 5 hours they fell asleep and were hastily covered up by the crew.

may i add these women were not exactly pleasing to the eye... :$ (i swear up and down i'm not shallow or bitchy)

As soon as we landed and were still taxing they were up out of their seats, taking out their bags talking about who they'd scored with......

If i wasn't on a plane, i would have knocked the shameless hussies on their noses!!

Anyhoo in short.. people who get high/drunk on flights and disrupt everyone else.

I concur with the 'hogging the overhead bins' complaint. I just got back from a business trip that had me on a few internal US Air flights across the country, and apart from the last flight (which was a half full 767) the luggage bins were completely full on every one. It annoys me both that airlines charge such exorbitant fees for checking A bag, and also that people still pack the same amount of crap and take it as carry on to avoid those fees.

One of my flights was on an Embraer, so not a huge plane. The seats were 2+2 and there was pretty much one overhead bin for each 6 seats. I found my seat, opened the bin to put my laptop bag in (I had checked my other bag) and found that it was completely full, with 2 suitcases and 2 very large 'handbags' belonging to the ditsy two females sat behind me. I swore under my breath, but just loud enough so that they could hear me....they just giggled. I had to squeeze myself into the seat with my bag under the one infront of me, which was most uncomfortable for a 4 hour flight.

Countless other internal flights I've taken we've had to queue on the jetway to have our bags tagged and thrown in the hold because there isn't a single spare inch of overhead bin space left. On medium to full flights, I'm sure the fact that people try their hardest to not check bags must add 5-10 minutes onto the boarding process.

Another gripe is how selfish some people are in general. Coming back to Philly the other night I had a connection in Charlotte to make. We left Kansas City 45 mins late, so by the time we actually pulled into the gate at CLT I had 5 mins to the scheduled departure time of my next flight. The cabin crew knew some people had connections to make, so made an announcement that would all passengers NOT making connections please remain in their seats until those who WERE making connections had exited the plane. I was half way back in the plane, and as soon as the seat belt sign went off EVERYBODY infront of me, with the exception of 3 or 4 people, stood up to get off. I looked back, and there were only a couple of people who had remained seated. Just rude!

My next complaint is a new one and I'm gonna start a new thread!

[honey lamb]

What annoys me with regard to the overhead bins is seeing someone sling his bag into an empty bin just as he is passing and them making his way to the back of the plane. why he can't keep it with him is beyond me

[Darren Wheeler]

Call me a pedant if you like, but shouldn't the survey be call

"12 most annoying things about air travel in 2009"? My calendar still shows 7+ months to go of 2010.

What annoys me with regard to the overhead bins is seeing someone sling his bag into an empty bin just as he is passing and them making his way to the back of the plane. why he can't keep it with him is beyond me

I saw this once on a UA domestic flight and I saw the CC pick up the bag and take it down to the pax ans said that what he had done was silly and it would probbaly delay his getting off the plane at the other end as the person sat where his bag was would have to put their bag somewhere else.

His face was a picture !