- Market research firm YouGov recently surveyed US travelers about acceptable behaviors on a flight.
- I was surprised by the amount of people who said ignoring safety presentations was acceptable.
Market research firm YouGov recently surveyed US travelers about what they consider appropriate behavior on a plane.
Some results were as expected: more than 80% disapproved of kids playing in the aisle, leaving their seats during turbulence, and getting drunk during a flight.
Since those behaviors range from irritating to downright dangerous, I'm heartened that they are met with overwhelming condemnation, even in a society as fractured as ours.
However, I found some of the YouGov survey's findings surprising and, in some instances, highly disconcerting.
Pay attention to safety demonstrations
20% of respondents said it's acceptable to ignore the safety demonstration at the beginning of flights.
It's a position that's more likely to be taken by frequent fliers (32%) versus just 16% of those who never fly.
I agree that the pre-flight safety demonstration can feel mundane and superfluous, but it still serves as a crucial overview of the aircraft's emergency exits and safety devices.
That's all information that could come in handy during a potentially chaotic and disorientating emergency evacuation.
Even the seemingly useless seatbelt demo can be useful. After all, passengers have been known to forget how to unbuckle their belts during emergency situations.
This just creates more work for flight attendants, whose primary job is to work as a team to get passengers off the plane quickly and safely in an emergency.
While I'm buoyed by the fact that 66% disapproved of the behavior, I remain concerned that at least 1/5 of the plane likely has no idea how to react in a life-threatening situation.
Keep your seatbelt on
Speaking of unbuckling seat belts, 47% of respondents said it is acceptable to do so when the seatbelt light is switched off.
I think there's a fundamental disconnect between what switching off the seatbelt light means to the flying public and what it actually means.
Switching off the light means passengers may now safely get up to use the lavatory or retrieve something from the overhead compartment. However, passengers should remain bucked once they return to their seats.
Flight crews sometimes will even make announcements instructing passengers to stay buckled when seated.
Given the recent examples of severe turbulence that have resulted in injuries and even a fatality, it's probably wise to heed those warnings.
Keep your shoes on
According to the survey, 30% of American adults said taking your shoes off on a plane is acceptable.
Soaring through the skies in a winged pressurized metal vessel is truly a marvel of modern engineering. I think I speak for most fliers when I say I don't want to enjoy this marvel while wafting the scent of someone's feet.
Beyond the assault on our olfactory senses, walking around the cabin of an airliner in your socks just isn't terribly sanitary.
Even though aircraft are vacuumed in fairly frequent intervals, their carpets see a lot of passengers between more thorough cleanings.
All kinds of detritus find their way onto these carpets, from food and drink to mud and dirt. In the most extreme cases, there may even be biohazards—soaked in blood, like on board an Air France flight to Toronto last July, or liquid feces, like Delta's diarrhea flight last September.
Even though airlines usually remove the biohazard-contaminated carpets, as was the case after the Delta flight, they serve as stomach-turning reminders to keep your shoes on.