Getting up from seat before plane stops annoys most: Survey

New Delhi: The habit of getting up before a plane comes to a halt after landing at an airport, though the seat belt sign is on, annoys a majority of the flyers. Men and women flyers also found it annoying when the passenger sitting in front rudely reclined the seat without thinking about the fellow passenger behind, a recent survey has found.

"For women, children kicking their seat back was the second most annoying habit, while men were irritated by fellow passengers not switching off their mobile phones until being asked to do so by the crew," the third edition of India Airline Experience Survey 2013 by travel portal TripAdvisor has found.

Flyers found books, iPad, tablets and iPods or any other portable music players as their best companions during a flight.

Around 59 per cent people loved to read a book during the flight, while 40 per cent preferred to spend their time on iPad or tablet and 31 per cent wanted to listen to music on iPod or portable music player.

Reading was the favourite pastime for most Indians flyers (60 per cent), while watching movies in flight was the second most favourite pastime (48 per cent) and 46 per cent flyers loved sleeping during a flight, the survey said.

The survey, collected from over 2,500 respondents, also found that despite an increase in number of smartphone users in India, only 23 per cent respondents had the app of an airline on their mobile.

Among app users, checking flight options and status were the two most popular functions followed by web check-in. The number of flyers using web check-in facilities also witnessed a marginal dip as compared to last year. Around 76 per cent air flyers indicated they used web check-in facility "sometimes" or "always" as compared to 80 per cent last year.

Though people may be active on social media like Facebook and Twitter, only 21 per cent respondents said they follow airlines on any social media. Those who followed liked to follow Jet Airways, Indigo and Spice Jet. IndiGo, which is the market leader, trumped Jet Airways as the most preferred domestic airline by a distinct margin this year as compared to last year.

The no-frills airline emerged as the clear winner and rated best on-time performance, value for money, quality of landing and take off, time taken to deliver baggage and in-flight maintenance.

Jet Airways rated best on the parameters of ground handling, appearance of cabin crew (staff grooming, uniform) seat comfort or leg room, in-flight entertainment, website experience, in-flight food and beverages and check-in process at the airport.

The survey found that national carrier Air India continues its legacy as least favourite domestic airline for third year in a row. Also, it continues to be perceived as the most unsafe airline by Indian flyers while IndiGo again trumps Jet Airways as the safest domestic airline.

Among the international carriers, flyers voted Dubai-based Emirates as the best international airline on all parameters, third year in a row followed by Singapore airlines and Lufthansa.

Among the new entrants, TATA-Singapore Airlines and AirAsia, 53 per cent Indian flyers said they would prefer to fly TATA-SIA airways before they try Air Asia. About 48 per cent flyers also believe that AirAsia's entry into the Indian market would create a competitive

environment and airfares would go down temporarily.

"In the wake of airlines such as AirAsia poised to enter, clearly interesting times are in store for the Indian aviation sector," said Nikhil Ganju, Country Manager, TripAdvisor India.

"Another key trend that has emerged from our survey is that the consumers seem to be divided into two strong groups, one who are ready to pay a consolidated fare and the other who prefer to take the basic fare and add items as per need," he said. While 37 per cent respondents were comfortable with inclusive fares, 24 per cent respondents said they don't mind paying basic fare and adding items as per their needs.

Another 14 per cent respondents said unbundled fares were great for solo or overnight business flyers with minimum luggage, but not for a family going on a holiday. Flyers believed that airlines were not transparent when it comes to costs.

Nearly 50 per cent the respondents thought domestic airlines were not transparent about all the costs while booking a flight, like cost of meal and extra baggage costs, compared with 42 per cent last year.