Brits still clueless to airport security and policies

Sept. 16, 2010 - PRLog -- The latest research by one of the UK’s leading online independent travel agents has revealed a general ignorance amongst Brits towards airport security and policies, with 1 in 5 believing it is acceptable to take large scissors on board a place.

The study was commissioned by www.sunshine.co.uk, in order to find out how knowledgeable people were of what is and isn’t allowed at airports and when flying. 1,821 people in the UK were subsequently polled, each of whom had flown in the past five years.
42% failed to acknowledge the fact that passengers are only allowed to take 100ml of liquids in their hand luggage, whilst 19% had previously had to remove toiletries from their hand luggage before boarding.

Almost half, 49%, thought a corkscrew would be allowed in hand luggage on board a flight, whilst 18% put Stanley knives in the list of acceptable things to take onto a plane. On the contrary, 77% stated passengers were not allowed matches on a flight, when in fact a single book of safety (non-strike anywhere) matches is allowed.

When asked questions surrounding airport policy, http://www.sunshine.co.uk also found that 1 in 10, 9%, thought UK passengers didn’t need to produce a passport when flying within Europe. 6% thought air stewards were trained to fly planes in the case of an emergency.

When it came to use of technology during a flight, 3% incorrectly believed you could use a mobile to text or call from on a plane, as long as it wasn’t during take-off or landing.
Chris Brown, co-founder of http://www.sunshine.co.uk, commented on the findings;
“As a travel agent, we deal with customers who fly to a whole range of destinations, so we really wanted to find out how knowledgeable they were when it came to airport security and different policies at the airport and during flights.

“We were really surprised at how misunderstood some people seemed to be, especially when it came to the more obvious banned items on flights such as large scissors and Stanley knives. At first, you’d think people would know that items such as this were not allowed, but it seems many remain in the dark about such policies.

“Whilst the liquid restrictions are a more recent development, we are aware that some passengers still turn up with hand luggage containing toiletries, which then causes them a lot of bother at security control. If you’re hoping to get your holiday off to a good start, it’s always best to be aware of airport restrictions before setting out.”
LINK http://www.sunshine.co.uk

ENDS

For more information, or to arrange interviews with Chris Brown, please contact Shannon Haigh of 10 Yetis PR Agency on 01452 348211 or email shannon@10yetis.co.uk  
Editors Notes

sunshine.co.uk is the UK's leading online independent travel agent and was founded by Chris Brown and Chris Clarkson, the same people behind Holiday Watchdog which was bought by TripAdvisor in February 2008 for an undisclosed amount of money. Sunshine.co.uk offers low cost holidays and budget flights to destinations all over the world as well as great deals and discounted hotels.

TravelMole recently voted sunshine.co.uk as the best Travel Agency in the 2010 web awards.