A week rarely goes by without a scene of travelers fighting, arguing about a crying baby or taking off their shoes and socks mid-flight going social media viral.
First launched in 2013, the "Passenger Shaming" Instagram account now has over 1.4 million followers while TikTok is quickly carving out space as the place where people go to complain about bad airplane experiences.
DON'T MISS: Delta Follows Southwest In Surprise Social Media Ban
With many complaining that the situation has grown significantly worse amid understaffing and the explosion of post-pandemic travel, travel website and flight aggregator Kayak recently asked 1,000 travelers across the U.S. and Canada their thoughts on flight etiquette.
Kayak
Travelers Are Split On These Frequently-Shamed Plane Behaviors
Dubbed the "Unspoken Rules of Air Travel" and conducted through Brandwatch's Consumer Research Platform, the survey found an almost even opinion split on whether it's okay to take off shoes at any point during the flight -- while 56% believe shoes must stay off for the flight's entirety, 44% thought slipping them off for comfort is occasionally acceptable.
A further 20% see nothing wrong with going to the plane's lavatories in just socks but an overwhelming majority (76%) drew the limit at taking off one's socks by deeming it inappropriate.
While it is one of the most common behaviors to get featured on "Passenger Shaming," 26% of survey respondents believe putting long hair behind one's back seat or headrest is a-okay.
Travelers also frequently complain about the discomfort of having the passenger in front of you recline the seat but 88% of those surveyed said doing so is okay -- shame should not be on the traveler for making use of an available feature but on the airlines for trying to squeeze seats to the limit.
The perennial debate around crying children on flights also did not escape the survey. 26% of respondents said that it is never okay to bring a baby aboard a flight while 74% found such categorical views somewhat harsh.
The Confusion Around 'Universally Acknowledged Yet Frequently Debated' Travel Rules
"Travel etiquette is one of those things that is universally acknowledged yet frequently debated," Matt Clarke, who heads marketing at Kayak, said in a statement on the results. "Even within our own team at KAYAK, we couldn't all agree whether it was or was not OK to recline your seat on a flight."
Some of the most unquestionably unacceptable plane behaviors include clipping or painting one's nails (92% are against it), taking up overhead space with coats and other smaller items (73% nixed this) and bringing smelly foods aboard -- while 92% viewed this unacceptable, the situation is complicated by different personal and cultural views on what smells tasty.
Even so, agreement about the inappropriateness of tinned fish (89%), a rack of ribs (84%) and hard-boiled eggs (74%) were mostly universal. As the survey asked respondents their opinions about specific foods (the rack of ribs is in reference to a Ryanair (RYAOF) -) flight on which a man was filmed eating one), there would be more variation with more open-ended questions.
"In solidarity with flight crews everywhere, we hope that airlines will get on board with establishing official etiquette guidelines on all future flights," Clarke said. "Imagine hearing 'please stow your rack of ribs' or 'keep your socks on when using the bathroom.'"
