Noisy children are top irritation on flights, say Brits in holiday poll

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The issue of child-free flights has caused controversy among travellers and now British holiday makers are adding fuel to the fire by voting noisy children as their top annoyance on flights.

According to a new survey by online travel agent sunshine.co.uk, when it comes to going on holiday, 88 per cent of UK adults find loud children the most irritating issue on flights.

Lack of legroom (76 per cent) is another annoyance, as well as poor food quality and choice (52 per cent). Not being seated with travel companions is another irritating factor (49 per cent), followed by passengers kicking the backs of chairs (41 per cent).

When the 1,648 UK-based adults who took part in the holiday survey were asked if they enjoyed flying, just 23 per cent said 'yes', while 35 per claimed to be 'indifferent' and 14 per cent said they were scared of flying.

Although holidaymakers have a few irritations, it seems they're too shy to complain about them, as only a fifth (19 per cent) said they had made a complaint about an aspect of their flight experience on a previous holiday abroad. But when asked what their complaint had been, their top annoyance, noisy children, was the answer.

Chris Clarkson, co-founder of sunshine.co.uk, said: 'As a father with young children, I know it can be tough as a parent to keep little ones entertained during a flight.

'When I've travelled without my children, I've often been on a flight with loud kids, but rather than getting annoyed I tend to just feel sorry for the mum and dad!'

He added: 'I think passengers need to be considerate of those travelling on the same flight as them, so a thing like not letting your kids run up and down the aisle is an obvious one.

'However, there are unfortunately other things that do a great job of irritating passengers and lack of leg room is one I think we've all experienced!'

The most annoying things about flying from sunshine.co.uk's survey:

1. Noisy children - 88%
2. Lack of leg room - 76%
3. Poor quality food/choice - 52%
4. Not getting seated with co-travellers - 49%
5. Passengers kicking backs of chairs - 41%
6. Loud fellow passengers - 35%
7. Drunken fellow passengers - 23%
8. Small toilets - 17%
9. Rude in-flight crew - 11%
10. No in-flight entertainment - 9%

What do you find most annoying on a flight? Leave a comment and let us know below.

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