Travel by air, land or sea brings with it the opportunity for traveler frustration on a number of levels. On land, extra holiday traffic, extra fees at hotels or resorts and other potential unknowns take their toll. At sea, the inclusive nature of a cruise handles most of the potential problem areas but, as with any travel, the unanticipated can be a negative. When it comes to air travel, the biggest problem by far has nothing to do with airlines, pilots or flight attendants.
A full 75 percent of air travellers are most frustrated by the time it takes for them to make it through security checks, says a recent study by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Taking off shoes and belts, sorting through electronic items and removing liquids from their carry-on bags all add up to huge frustration. It is such a bother to travelers that 75 percent would rather go through a full-body scanner than have a full pat down by a security officer.
In other findings of the nearly 3,000 travelers from 114 countries surveyed who had traveled by air in the past 12 months:
- 73 percent were willing to share personal background information with governments in order to speed up security screening.
- 77 percent were comfortable with using biometric identification for more convenient airport transit.
- 71 percent would prefer to use a self-boarding device at the gate, such as a mobile phone.
- 86 percent were prepared to provide the airline their passport details in advance to allow a smoother journey.
- 91 percent said they would be interested if providing passport details in advance would allow a faster arrival process.
IATA also reported that airlines are expected to return a profit of $6.7 billion in 2012, expected to improve to $8.4 billion in 2013.
[Photo Credit- Flickr user Old Shoe Woman]