When booking a flight, does it really matter where passengers sit? According to a survey conducted by Synovate, it matters — a lot — to most people. In a poll of more than 10,000 respondents in 13 countries, two-thirds or air travelers have a strong seat preference.
Filipinos were least fussy. Interestingly, 64 percent of them said that they didn’t care. When Thais were polled, 89 percent had a seat preference. Of all the respondents, 41 percent said that a bad seat would ruin their flight. Three quarters of those polled would like to have the option to change seats if they were unhappy with the one they had.
Additionally, 34 percent would prefer to sit next to someone of the same sex. Forty-four percent of women would prefer to sit next to another woman, while 24 percent of men would prefer sitting next to a man.
Overall, 57 percent of the respondents agree with the statement that they like to chat with their seatmate. However, chatters vary by nationalities — 77 percent of Malaysians and 74 percent of Filipinos like to chat, while 60 percent of Thais, 58 percent of Taiwanese and 57 percent of Hong Kongers do not like to chat.
How about sitting next to children? Two thirds don’t get frustrated sitting next to them. However, Britons were found to be most intolerant at 55 percent. Citizens of Hong Kong run a close second at 52 percent. The most tolerant passengers were Germans at 15 percent being frustrated being next to children.
Read the full survey results across several categories here.
