Which is the happiest day to fly?

Leon Della Bosca

8 years ago

The US Transport Security Administration (TSA) has conducted a global study to find out which day travellers are happiest to fly, as well as their favourite airports.

The study revealed that Wednesday is when most travellers prefer to fly.

According to data collected by the HappyOrNot Smiley Terminals and Reporting Service, which collates feedback at the point of experience – in this case, airports – Wednesday is the best day of the week to travel. It is also the day that recorded the highest number of happy travellers.

Data was collected by tourists pressing one of four ‘smiley’ buttons at a HappyOrNot terminal, which corresponds to their experience on the day. The faces range from red, which means ‘dismayed’; through to green, which means ‘thrilled’. In between are a pale red, which means ‘neutral’ and pale green, which means ‘happy’.

Around 70 million passengers who used the HappyOrNot booths at 100 airports all over the world ranked Wednesday as the easiest and happiest day to hop on a flight. Even happier were those who travelled between 5am and 8am.

According to HappyOrNot’s CEO Heikki Väänänen: “The happy, vacation-mode attitude can quickly turn into a stressful, unhappy one if you have an unpleasant experience at the airport. Things like long queues at security checks, slow baggage claims, inefficient check-ins, or poor service in lounges can have an impact on your mood and affect the rest of your vacation. It is understandable that the busiest days get the worst feedback results.”

The study also used at least 1000 passenger reviews per day from 30 countries, to reveal the best airports by country based on customer satisfaction. To Australian travellers, it may come as a surprise that Australia did not make the top 10, which are:

1. Sweden
2. Norway
3. Fiji
4. Iceland
5. Ireland
6. UK
7. Spain
8. Bahrain
9. Italy
10. USA