Watching adult movies & stealing food: Some of the worst in-flight situations revealed

After two years of pandemic, air travel is taking off once more, along with the annoying, embarrassing and sometimes shameful situations it entails. According to an eDreams study, 40% of French people take off their shoes during a flight – a situation that irks some fellow passengers. But that’s nothing compared to some in-flight behaviour…

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There’s the middle seat of three that becomes even more hellish when you’re stuck between two armrest hoggers. Or how about the seat just in front of the bathroom, which is the only one that doesn’t recline. And then there are those unscrupulous passengers who insist on reclining their seat without the slightest concern for the passenger behind them. On a plane, many situations soon become annoying because of our sheer proximity with other passengers. But some passenger behaviour can be particularly embarrassing.

So what kind of embarrassing situations do passengers experience in-flight? According to a study by flight comparison service eDreams, carried out by OnePoll, 32% of French travellers have been caught out by their snoring, as have 35% of Swedes. Plus, 21% of Swedish passengers polled have fallen asleep on their neighbour’s shoulder. Meanwhile, 18% of travellers of these same nationalities admit to having cried while watching a movie on the plane. Still, there is no harm in being sentimental…

However, things can get considerably more embarrassing (for others!) when a passenger chooses to watch a pornographic movie, or an 18+ film with adult content. Yes, it can happen, as 21% of Americans have been caught out. It should be noted that this type of behaviour is not particularly common among European passengers, only 8% of whom have been involved in this type of situation.

Finally, the most embarrassing in-flight moments often seem to be sex-related. Some 8% of the travellers polled for this study of French, German, Swedish, American, Italian, Spanish, British and Portuguese passengers, admitted having suffered an embarrassing mishap when a sex toy fell out of their bag. Meanwhile, 7% said they have been caught in the bathroom having sex. And it’s perhaps no surprise. The only place you can hope to get a moment’s privacy is inevitably the place of all forbidden temptations. As such, 14% of British respondents confess to having locked themselves in the bathroom to smoke.

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Finally, some of the more shameful anecdotes include 8% of respondents confessing to having stolen food from their neighbor’s tray when their fellow passenger was using the bathroom…

The survey was conducted among a sample of 10,000 respondents in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States between August 15 and 25, 2022.