Which States Have the Worst Plane Passengers? The Results Surprised Me

by Anthony Losanno
Woman Traveler

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Air travel can be stressful for even the most seasoned passengers. Between security lines, confusing boarding processes, and worries about lost baggage, there is a lot that can derail a trip. This is not even considering bad behavior from your fellow passengers who might recline into, get drunk and rowdy, or worse. A recent study examined the travel behavior of individuals from all 50 states and ranked them on their etiquette while in flight.

Travel States

Online gaming company Solitaire Bliss conducted this study where they surveyed passengers around the behaviors they are guilty of, things they have witnessed, the airlines they most associate with these behaviors, and a few other data points. Here are some of the best and worst travelers by state:

Best Behaved Travelers

Southerners are stereotyped for their politeness and according to this survey there might be some validity to this belief. The top three spots for behaved travelers with Arkansas, Alabama, and Florida the least likely to commit naughty travel behaviors. Ohio and Kansas round out the top five for good behavior.

Worst Behaved Travelers

Travelers in the midwest (Iowa and Illinois) as well as Virginia, Georgia, and Texas make up the top five for travelers that exhibit the worst behaviors. These include putting bags on seats in the terminal, passing gas in their seats, not putting phones on airplane mode, leaving garbage in seatback pockets. and reclining seats without asking.

Other Interesting Takeaways

  • 33% of passengers admit to passing gas while in flight
  • 12.5% say they have witnessed physical altercations
  • Spirit Airlines is most associated with bad behavior
  • Gen Z is the generation most likely to commit bad travel behaviors
  • 37% don’t put their phones in airplane mode
  • 32% leave garbage in seatback pockets
  • 19% ignore the seatbelt signs

Anthony’s Take: It’s interesting to see how states rank for good and bad travel behaviors. I’ve personally witnessed tons of bad behavior through the years and it boggles my mind how selfish people can be.

(Image Credits: Nicoleta Ionescu and Solitaire Bliss.)

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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.

2 comments

Greg June 16, 2024 - 12:08 pm

Why even post this or give it legitimacy – they don’t disclose how many people were surveyed. For all we know they surveyed 2 people in some states.

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jsm June 16, 2024 - 10:30 pm

I stopped reading this when the chart had a column heading “Most Naughty States”.

The superlative form of Naught is Naughtiest. But then naughty behavior certainly isn’t helped by the American Express commercial currently running which shows a passenger putting bare feet on an airplane window.

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