Battle of the sexes rages on at 30,000 feet

Battle of the sexes rages on at 30,000 feet

Expedia survey reveals how Kiwi men and women pass the time in the air

Auckland, 24 May 2011 – With many international flights lasting more than 20 hours, the dilemma for Kiwi travellers is how to pass the time in the air. New research* conducted by online travel company Expedia.co.nz has found the age-old saying that ‘men are from Mars and women are from Venus’ holds true in mid-air, with each favouring a different way to pass the time.

Thanks to sophisticated in-flight entertainment systems, which now offer hundreds of movies, TV shows and videogames, unsurprisingly, Kiwi men can’t wait to test it out, with almost three quarters (74%) opting to use technology to make the hours fly by. Conversely, Kiwi women are shunning in-flight technology with almost two thirds (62%) preferring to immerse themselves in a good book.

In spite of these differences, Kiwi men and women are in agreement that being stuck in a confined space for a long time, lack of seat comfort, turbulence and passing time in airports were top of the list of air travel dislikes.

To make the flight as comfortable as possible, travellers should use travel tools such as Expedia.co.nz’s SeatGuru®, which enables travellers to view and select the best seats via colour-coded aircraft seat maps on certain international flights. Travellers are then able to request specific seats as part of their booking on Expedia.co.nz, thereby ensuring that travellers fly more comfortably.

Despite New Zealanders being a friendly nation, striking up conversations with other passengers was something to avoid with only around one in 10 Kiwis willing to chat with fellow passengers. One in five men (19%) admitted to flirting with a member of the aircrew during the flight. Love can also often blossom in the sky with 6% of flyers admitting to having a relationship with someone they met during the flight.

Joana Barros, Senior Manager Marketing of Expedia.co.nz, said: “At Expedia, we believe choice is a necessity not a luxury. Things like selecting the right seat to ensure a comfortable flight are a priority for us to bring to our customers. To help travellers consider their options they should utilise Expedia’s unique SeatGuru® functionality to review and select the perfect seat when booking flights”, Ms Barros said.

“Expedia customers can also rest easy when passing time in the air in the knowledge they are getting great value for money and paying no flight booking fees”, Ms Barros said.

To view more news from Expedia.co.nz, visit: http://press.expedia.co.nz/

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*About the survey

Pureprofile fielded the online survey on behalf of Expedia.co.nz™ between 5 and 14 January 2011 among a nationwide cross-section of 500 adults aged 18+ in New Zealand. The data was weighted to be representative of the total New Zealand population on the basis of gender, location and age. With probability samples of this size, one can say with 95 per cent certainty that the results for the sample have a sampling error of plus or minus two percentage points.

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