TripAdvisor Survey Reveals “Airport Annoyances”

Yesterday, the popular travel website TripAdvisor announced the results of its annual travel survey, and I found some of the results to be very interesting.

For example,TripAdvisor reports that "79 percent of travelers said they are comfortable with U.S. airports using full body scanners that can see through clothes." With all of the media attention focused on the negative aspects on body scanners, I didn't think the number of those in favor would be so high. But it appears that most travelers are willing to give up a bit of privacy in the name of security. (Assuming, of course, that the body scanners are effective in that regard.)

Travelers also shared what annoyed them the most about airports, and not surprisingly waiting for security took the top spot in this category at 39 percent. 19 percent of respondents said that the high price of food in airports was their biggest annoyance, but apparently the price of water is more annoying. When asked if there should be a price limit on bottled water in airports, 95% agreed. It appears that the majority believes airport vendors have been taking advantage of the liquids ban.

There are some other interesting statistics as well. For example, I found it particularly interesting that 30% said that they would pick one flight over another because of the availability of inflight Wi-Fi, while at the same time 60% said they wouldn't be willing to pay for inflight Wi-Fi. Interesting.

Meanwhile, travelers also cited fees (especially bag fees) as one of their biggest annoyances.

You can see all of the results here.