Airplane etiquette survey: Many Americans say passenger behavior is getting worse

Many people in the U.S. believe airplane etiquette has gone downhill, and they mostly blame fellow passengers for the drop in civility. It’s just one of the fascinating findings from a new survey by YouGov, commissioned by TPG, on everything travel.

If you’ve paid any attention to social media, you know passenger plane etiquette is a hot topic. Debates rage about who should get the armrest, whether you should recline your seat, whether people are allowed to go without shoes on the aircraft, and who controls the window shade.

Passenger shaming is a real thing on social media, too. Ever seen a photo of someone’s bare feet on a bulkhead?

So we commissioned a nationally representative survey of more than 2,500 U.S. adults to find out where the public stands on some of the biggest etiquette questions about flying.

Turns out, many people think passenger behavior is getting worse, but most don’t blame the airlines — they blame other passengers instead.

Here are some of the other most interesting findings:

• Noise is most annoying: More Americans (27%) say loud conversations or passengers playing music and videos without headphones is the most annoying inflight behavior.
• Still, fewer people than we thought think voice calls should be banned: 40% say airlines should ban phone or video calls during flights, versus 33% who say they should not.
• A majority (51%) say it is acceptable to recline your seat in economy only if you check behind you first.
• Americans do not agree with the TPG rule that the middle-seat passenger gets the armrests, as only 11% say the middle-seat passenger should get both armrests.
• Orderly deplaning: Nearly two-thirds (65%) say leaving the aircraft row by row from front to back is the proper way to exit an airplane.
• More Americans (42%) say passenger behavior has gotten worse over the past five years.
• Seat-swap requests aren’t considered rude by 44%.

After analyzing the data, one of TPG’s takeaways is that Americans generally don’t want more rules; they want more courtesy.

Here are our biggest YouGov findings.

What’s most annoying on a plane? Noise is public enemy No. 1

If you are most annoyed by people talking loudly, blasting phone calls or videos without headphones, you are not alone. A whopping 27% of Americans said that was the most annoying passenger behavior on planes.

This has become a huge problem as people scroll social media apps like TikTok or Instagram Reels without headphones, but it happens with television shows, phone calls and even Zoom meetings as well.

At TPG, we’ve found this happens a lot in lounges, too. Please stop.

Noise was followed closely by 21%, who said the most annoying behavior was passengers reclining their seats too far back or doing so without warning. Another 8% of those polled said people taking their shoes off or going barefoot on board is the most annoying. Meanwhile, 12% said they don’t get annoyed by any passengers’ behavior. Who are those angels?

Interestingly, there is no strong majority of Americans who think phone or video calls should be banned.

Still, it’s clear that the biggest etiquette offense isn’t taking up space — it’s taking over the cabin with noise.

What about seat recline?

The debate over reclining seats never seems to go away.

Should you never recline? Always recline? Is it your seat, so you can do whatever you want? Our survey suggests most Americans land somewhere in the middle.

Our survey found Americans say you can recline your seat in most instances, just be considerate. Courtesy wins the reclining debate in the economy cabin.

I was surprised by the results. I try not to recline my seat on short flights and always check behind me before reclining, even on long, overnight flights in economy. But most Americans say it’s perfectly ok. I’m always worried I’m going to create a scene like the one my colleague Tarah Chieffi experienced on a flight, when someone reclined suddenly and completely destroyed her laptop.

But a small majority (51%) say it’s acceptable to recline in economy only if you check behind you first. Just 21% say it’s fine to recline anytime after takeoff, while only 10% say passengers should never recline.

That’s a pretty clear message.

Most travelers aren’t opposed to reclining — they’re opposed to surprising the person behind them.

Common courtesy wins here, too.

Who should get the armrests?

This was the most surprising result in our survey. Not everyone agrees with TPG’s rule that middle-seat passengers should get both armrests.

Our survey suggests most Americans never got that memo. The “middle seat gets both armrests” rule isn’t widely accepted.

Just 11% said the middle-seat passenger should automatically get both armrests.

Instead, nearly twice as many (20%) said the middle passenger should get priority, but everyone should share. The largest group (31%) said everyone should simply share the armrests equally.

Perhaps the biggest surprise? More than a quarter (26%) weren’t even sure what the etiquette should be.

That suggests one of the travel world’s most repeated “rules” may not be nearly as universally accepted as many frequent flyers assume.

Seat swapping

Have you had a passenger approach you and ask you to trade seats? That has certainly happened to me. In fact, on a recent flight from Vienna to Paris, a man asked me to trade my window seat in a row of two for his slightly worse seat. I did it to be a good human, and most Americans appear to agree it wasn’t rude of him to ask me.

Americans appear to be relatively open to the request: 44% of respondents said it is not rude to ask another passenger to swap seats after boarding, compared with 34% who said it is rude.

Another 22% weren’t sure.

Of course, no matter what the opinions on it are, our advice is that it’s OK to ask, but don’t expect another passenger to give up a better seat.

These days, those better seats almost always come with a higher price tag.

What’s appropriate attire on the plane?

People don’t seem to mind folks dressing less than business casual on the plane. Americans definitely don’t believe you need to wear a suit to fly. Americans overwhelmingly prioritize comfort.

More than seven in 10 respondents (72%) said the most appropriate attire is either simply wearing whatever is comfortable (38%) or that wearing casual athletic and loungewear, such as leggings, sweatpants and T-shirts, is acceptable (34%).

That said, Americans do appear to draw a line.

Just 1% believe pajamas are appropriate airplane attire, and another 1% favored revealing clothing. I guess those folks haven’t received pajamas on a premium cabin flight.

Wait for your turn to deboard

If there was one issue Americans agreed on more than any other, it was waiting your turn to get off the plane. Orderly deplaning has overwhelming support.

Nearly two-thirds (65%) believe that passengers should leave row by row, from the front to the back of the aircraft.

Only 10% said it’s proper to move ahead whenever there’s an opening, while 9% said cutting ahead is appropriate if you’re trying to make a tight connection.

We’ve lately seen this trend on social media, with people rushing up the aisle and cutting in front of fellow passengers as soon as the seat belt sign goes off.

We’re so glad to see that other Americans think this is rude and unacceptable.

Who gets the window shade?

This is another debate that seems to divide cabins. Who should control the window shade? The survey found that the window-seat passenger usually wins the shade debate.

A slim majority (51%) said the passenger sitting in the window seat should control the shade.

Still, more than one in four (28%) think everyone in the row should work it out together.

Again, compromise wins.

Americans think things have gone downhill on the plane

It’s not your imagination, at least according to many travelers. Passengers are behaving badly, and many Americans think airline etiquette is getting worse.

Forty-two percent of Americans said airline passenger etiquette has worsened over the past five years (either a lot or somewhat), while just 11% believe it has improved.

What surprised me most was that most Americans don’t blame the airlines for packing planes with more passengers in tighter quarters. Instead, passengers blame other passengers.

When asked who’s most responsible for poor behavior on airplanes, a majority (52%) pointed squarely at passengers themselves.

Only 8% blamed airlines and their policies, while another 8% blamed social media and influencers.

Bottom line

Despite the viral videos you’ve seen of bad passenger behavior, Americans agree more than they disagree on what constitutes appropriate airline behavior.

The data suggests that Americans aren’t necessarily even looking for more rules: They’re looking for common courtesy.

Our overwhelming conclusion from our survey of Americans is that they want everyone to behave better on planes. Following some simple rules can go a long way toward improving the lives of all of us on board the airplane.

Use headphones, check before reclining, don’t cut in front of others during deplaning, dress comfortably but not inappropriately, and communicate with fellow passengers. I always say, “Kill ’em with kindness.” Remember, we’re all packed together, paying too much for too little. and a little stressed during flying.

Remember the golden rule and treat others as you would like to be treated … especially on the plane.

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