A good read is one of the essential ingredients for a relaxing holiday, according to 80 per cent* of holidaymakers who always pack one for their travels. Despite this, around 600 books and 1,400 kindles are left on board British Airways flights every year.
The most common is The Holy Bible, accounting for six per cent of books left on board. Some of the more unusual books which have been found include notebooks, personal diaries, wedding sketchbooks and even a cheque book!
The British Airways survey found that books were still the most popular form of reading with three in five taking a book, compared to one in five taking an e-reader. Women are also more likely to own an e-reader (20 per cent) compared to men (15 per cent).
British Airways has compiled a list of the top 10 books most commonly left on flights over the past three months, as inspiration for good holidays reads this summer:
- Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn (Fiction, Thriller)
- King and Maxwell Series, David Baldacci (Thriller)
- The Fault in our Stars, John Green (Novel)
- Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Thomas Piketty (Business/Economics)
- Alex Cross, Run – James Patterson (Thriller)
- The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton (Novel)
- Michael Lewis, Flash Boys (Non-fiction)
- Fifty Shades of Grey (Freed), EL James (Romance)
- Arthur Conan Doyle, The Complete Sherlock Holmes (Novel)
- The Racketeer, John Grisham (Thriller)
Novels are the most common type of book found on flights (22 per cent), followed by crime thrillers, study and learning books, travel books, non-fiction and business and economics. The least likely genre to be left behind are ‘chick flicks’.
Some of the most popular biographies found on board were by John Bishop, Muhammad Ali and, no surprise during the Wimbledon Championships – tennis player Rafa Nadal.
The survey also found that Scottish travellers were the most likely to own an e-reader (28 per cent) – the least likely were East Anglia (nine per cent). Nine out of ten people from the East Midlands were likely to take a book on holiday, compared to just a quarter from the North East. Those from the South East are the biggest readers, taking at least two or three books on holiday.
For those prone to losing books, British Airways has a selection of audio titles in its extensive library collection. It includes Jennifer Saunders biography ‘Bonkers; My life in laughs’, Virginia Woolf ‘The mark on the wall’, Roald Dahl ‘The Great Automatic Grammatizator’, Anton Chekhov ‘The Chorus Girl’ and Charles Dickens ‘Great Expectations’ among many others available on selected long-haul flights in July.
*1,000 people surveyed by OnePoll