Indian fliers most stressed by airport formalities

Waiting at check-in queues and clearing security at airports is the most stressful part of travelling for Indians, according to a global travel survey released on Tuesday.

Waiting at check-in queues and clearing security at airports is the most stressful part of travelling for Indians, according to a global travel survey released on Tuesday.

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The survey conducted by travel portal, Skyscanner, polled more than 20,000 travellers across 12 countries such as Brazil, UK, Germany, Italy, Spain and Russia in May and June. Of the total sample size, more than 3000 respondents were frequent Indian travellers.

According to the survey, 66.7% Indians said that airport experience was the most stressful part of their travel, which was way above the global average of 25.18%.

“Although airports are working towards reducing terminal congestion, Indian travellers felt that passing through them was the most stressful,” said Kavitha Gnanamurthy, market development manager, Skyscanner (India). “The recent spate of pilots’ strikes and flight cancellations could have added the waiting time at airports.”

Choosing a holiday destination was the second most time consuming aspect of travel for Indians followed by getting cheap airfares. (see box for full survey details)

“With international tourism boards and airlines catering to different kinds of travellers, choosing a destination has become more difficult,” added Gnanamurthy.

She added that booking cheap air tickets online is time consuming because airlines are offering several packages these days.

Unlike travellers from other countries polled in the survey, travel budget and procuring travel related documents such visa were among least of the problems for Indians.

Less than 3% Indians complained about these aspects as against the global average of close to 9.18%.

The poll was conducted on social networking site Facebook with a multiple-choice survey.