Stress head: The worst parts of travelling by air?

Priority Pass has conducted a survey with 1,720 respondents to learn about people’s airport routines and the stresses they experience whilst travelling. The survey asked which areas of the departure lounge they visit, which scenarios they find the most stressful, and what they worry about the most whilst travelling. 

Almost half of the people surveyed agreed that baggage collection was the most stressful part of travelling, closely followed by passing through security (47%), and waiting for your transfer (47%). One in three people said that the most stressful part of travelling was during the flight, with a further 35% saying they found landing the most stressful.

Boarding, finding your seat on the plane and the flight itself all came at the bottom of the list, making them the least stressful moments whilst travelling.

The top 10 most stressful moments at the airport:

What are people most worried about might happen at the airport?

People’s biggest worry whilst travelling is not getting to the airport on time with 63% of people worrying about getting stuck on the way to the airport. Meanwhile, the second biggest worry for UK travellers is their luggage getting lost, with 61% saying they worry about this happening whilst travelling; compare this to only 41% of people worrying about losing their child.

Additionally, almost 3 in 5 people (57%) are worried about misplacing their passport or missing boarding the plane. Of the people surveyed, 25% of people were more worried about their flight being delayed than being stopped at security.

Busiest and quietest parts of the departure lounge

Over a third of people visit the pubs and restaurants at the departure lounge but as little as 4% celebrate the start of their holiday by sipping on a glass of bubbles at the airport champagne bar. The most popular and busiest part of the airport is the duty-free store with almost half (49%) of people taking a look around for what tax-free deals they can find.

On average, travellers in the UK give themselves 1 hour and 14 minutes in the departure lounge,

The top 5 busiest areas:

Andy Besant, travel experience director, from Priority Pass said: “The survey has shown some very interesting results, particularly relating to people’s worries and stresses whilst travelling. It seems that people are more stressed when preparing for their flight and thinking about passing security, checking in, packing and travelling to the airport and less stressed about the flight itself. Almost 1 in 10 have missed their flight which is quite a shock considering you need to be at the airport 2 hours before your flight.

“Our lounges are designed to take the stress out of travelling, and with over 1200 lounges around the world, we would hope to be able to accommodate as many worried or stressed travellers as possible to try and make their journey as stress-free as possible.”