The 18 Most Annoying Things You Can Do on a Plane

Reclining seats, loud talkers, bare feet, and the passenger who kicks your seat - we've had them all. 

Now, we can officially name the 18 most annoying behaviours to indulge in while you're in the sky.

A new survey, carried out on behalf of AA Travel Insurance, asked over 7,000 flyers how annoying they found various passenger behaviours whilst on-board, and found that 80 per cent of us are irked by pretty much everything.

Etiquette violators included talking loudly, snoring, and passengers who are liberal with their seat recliners. However, the most annoying thing you can do as a passenger is to be rude to your flight crew, behaviour which irritated 98 per cent of respondents.

A further 96 per cent nominated serial chair kicking, followed by 93 per cent who disapproved of parents' failure to discipline their children.

Many of the travellers called for alcohol to be banned on flights, with drunken behaviour ranking fourth (88 per cent) among the most annoying on-board habits. Others wanted airlines to remove reclining seats altogether, which was reported by 87 per cent of respondents as being irksome.

Personal space invasions also ranked highly in the survey, with people citing neighbours who doze off whilst leaning on them (84 per cent), serial armrest-hoggers (80 per cent), and those who spread out their belongings (75 per cent) as common annoyances.

Seventy-one percent of participants reported their exasperation at individuals who dominate a vacant middle seat, with one innovative traveller revealing they regularly purchased a complete row of seats.

Other bad passenger behaviour ranked by respondents included making a mess (83 per cent), playing games with the sound on (82 per cent), talking loudly (79 per cent), blocking the aisle in-flight (79 per cent), taking off socks (72 per cent), repeatedly getting up from their seat (70 per cent), and coughing and sneezing (62 per cent).

The worst offences are:

Reclining their seat all the way back

Falling asleep and leaning on you

Snoring

Parents neglecting to discipline their children

Coughing/sneezing/blowing their nose

Spreading out of their belongings

Talking loudly

Playing games with the sound on

Kicking/bumping your seat

Repeatedly getting out of their seat

Taking over the arm rest

Eating pungent food

Getting drunk

Making a mess

Hogging the extra middle seat

Blocking the aisle during the flight