New survey finds one in 10 US travellers have sex in an airport

Fredrick Kunkle

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Romance is in the air - and sometimes in the airport, according to an online flight-shopping service.

About 1 in 10 US air travellers reports having had sex of some kind at an airport, compared with about 8 per cent who are members of the Mile High Club, according to an important new survey conducted by a flight-shopping website.

Of those who had some sort of "sexual encounter," 42 per cent reported that it took place in a public restroom, while 28 per cent got busy in the "storage cupboards" and 14 per cent "under a coat." Twelve per cent coupled in the VIP lounge, which at least makes some sense; 17 per cent claim to have been caught in the act by airport staff.

The survey is the work of US.Jetcost.com, which tallied the results from 4915 Americans who were 18 or older and had flown at least once in the past two years.

Three-quarters of those responded that they had some free time in the airport, and so the website followed up to learn how that down time was used. Of those respondents who found romance among jet bodies and tail fins, the majority engaged in sex with their travelling partner (87 per cent). Only 5 per cent hooked up with a stranger.

By comparison, flight attendants with Norwegian said recently Mile High Club inductees appeared on their flights about once a month. The estimated success rate was about 30 per cent, and it was not uncommon to see people bolting for the lavatory who appeared to have been mere strangers when they took their seats, the flight attendants said.

"Sometimes I just want to give the passengers a ton of Purel and say, 'What are you thinking?' " one was quoted as saying. And that about says it all.

Is this clickbait? Yes. Reliable? Who knows? And yet we must because it was too amusing and/or depressing to let pass.

Most respondents in the airport survey, as you might expect, were content to satisfy themselves shopping in the terminal (54 per cent); having a drink or getting something to eat (67 per cent); playing games on a smartphone or some other device (41 per cent); streaming TV shows and movies (39 per cent), or reading emails (11 per cent).

Twenty-five percent spent their time reading.

The Washington Post