Majorities in U.S. and Five Largest European Countries Consider Air Travel to Be Safe
PR Newswire NEW YORK, Dec. 1, 2010 NEW YORK, Dec. 1, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- A new Financial Times/Harris Poll in the United States and the five largest European countries looks at air travel safety and security and finds an overall sense of safety prevails. Three-quarters of Spaniards (75%), more than seven in ten Britons (72%), more than two-thirds of Americans (69%) and Germans (68%), and more than three in five Italians (64%) and French (62%) all say they consider air travel to be safe. In fact, one-third of Britons (35%) and Americans (32%) say they consider it to be very safe. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100517/NY06256LOGO ) These are some of the findings of a Financial Times/Harris Poll conducted online by Harris Interactive® among 6,130 adults aged 16-64 within France (1,097), Germany (1,070), Great Britain (871), Spain (1,003), the U.S. (1,044) and adults aged 18-64 in Italy (1,045) between November 9 and 16, 2010. Other interesting findings of this survey include: So What? As the holiday season kicks off around the world, many people will be flying this month. And, each of them will have to kick off their shoes, take their laptops out of bags and, perhaps, deal with a pat-down at security. However, these measures seem to be working, as adults in these six countries believe these current security measures are adequate and they feel safe when flying. TABLE 1 ON THE SAFETY OF AIR TRAVEL "Please tell us your view surrounding the safety of air travel. Do you consider air travel to be…?" Base: All EU adults in five countries and U.S. adults U.S. Great Britain France Italy Spain Germany % % % % % % Safe (NET) 69 72 62 64 75 68 Very safe 32 35 18 17 23 17 Somewhat safe 37 37 45 48 52 51 Neither safe nor unsafe 13 12 30 29 17 20 Unsafe (NET) 18 16 7 7 8 12 Somewhat unsafe 12 12 5 5 6 6 Very unsafe 5 4 2 2 2 6 Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding TABLE 2 ON THE RIGIDNESS OF CURRENT AIRPORT SECURITY MEASURES "Some experts have argued that some relatively new airport security procedures for passengers, such as no bottled water and removing shoes should be relaxed as they are unnecessarily rigid. What do you think?" Base: All EU adults in five countries and U.S. adults U.S. Great Britain France Italy Spain Germany % % % % % % Current airport security measures are adequate and should not change 49 47 49 41 48 52 Current airport security measures are not rigid enough and should be made more rigid 30 30 29 41 27 30 Current airport security measures are too rigid and should be relaxed 20 23 21 18 25 18 Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding TABLE 3 STEPS TO RELAX/REMOVE FROM AIRPORT SECURITY "You say that you feel current airport security measures are too rigid. Which steps should be relaxed or removed completely?" Base: All EU and U.S. adults who think that airport security measures should be relaxed U.S. Great Britain France Italy Spain Germany % % % % % % 100ml limits on liquids 76 64 79 76 79 90 Removing shoes and belts 64 75 69 57 74 45 Having to fit cosmetics and liquids into a plastic bag 60 59 66 55 57 74 Taking laptops out of bags 22 26 20 27 29 21 Being personally scanned and examined with metal detectors 19 11 12 8 12 12 Another step 21 7 7 4 8 5 Note: Multiple responses accepted TABLE 4 SUPPORT FOR FULL BODY SCANNERS AT AIRPORT SECURITY "Some safety authorities are pushing for the introduction of full body scanners in all major airports. Would you mostly support or oppose this additional security measure?" Base: All EU adults in 5 countries and U.S. adults U.S. Great Britain France Italy Spain Germany % % % % % % Mostly support 62 68 65 68 59 64 Mostly oppose 18 16 15 15 19 22 Not sure 20 15 20 16 22 14 Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding TABLE 5 SUPPORT FOR PROFILING PASSENGERS AT AIRPORT SECURITY IN UK "In the UK there is discussion about 'profiling' airline passengers at security. This could mean security staff targeting specific groups – for example people who look like they are from the Middle East. Would you mostly support or oppose this additional security measure?" Base: All EU adults in 5 countries and U.S. adultsMajorities in U.S. and Five Largest European Countries Consider Air Travel to Be Safe
Majorities also support the use of full body scanners