Only a third of S'pore travellers will wake aisle seat passenger to get to bathroom: Survey

Singapore travellers tend towards thoughtfulness and practicality in flight, findings from a travel survey by international insurance company Allianz Partners suggest.

- Sarah Stanley

On May 14, the company released its first Asia-Pacific (Apac) edition of the Allianz Partners Travel Index, a survey it has been conducting in the United States since 2009 and in Europe since 2012.

This latest version includes insights from 502 respondents in Singapore, alongside travellers from Australia, New Zealand, China, India, Hong Kong and Japan.

Among its key findings is that a third of Singapore travellers will wake a passenger in an aisle seat to use the washroom – the same proportion as respondents from Australia and India.

At 38 per cent, New Zealand has the highest proportion who will do so. In contrast, Japanese respondents are the least likely to do that (18 per cent).

Dr Amy Lim, discipline lead for psychology at Murdoch University Singapore, explains that in such moments of urgency, travellers typically face two awkward options: "Climbing over or waking the aisle passenger."