Budget airlines have made an art out of introducing new charges, but they are missing a trick.People would pay a lot extra if you could guarantee sitting next to someone you liked. Indeed, if you were already seated, and knew what lay ahead on the journey, most people would stump up a fair quantity of cash in order to move. Here's a list of the top ten irritating people travellers would pay good money to avoid:

1 Acquaintances
For busy working people, time spent travelling is a fantastic opportunity to get the laptop out and start knocking out some email and generally catching up with some work. That's why it's a disaster when someone you slightly know sits next to you. If you knew them well you could briefly catch up and then tell them you need to work. For someone you last met ten years ago, you have to do ten years of catching up before you can politely draw the conversation to a close, and that can mean an entire flight from London to Frankfurt.

2 Bad Travellers
Motion sickness affects some people really badly. You will have barely taken your seat when they grab the sick bag and start filling it at regular intervals with sound effects that sound much like a bath draining through a partially blocked plug hole. Sympathy for them evaporates around about the third bag they've filled especially when this coincides with the arrival of your food.

3 Fidgets
Some people are genetically incapable of sitting still. Everyone likes to stretch their legs a bit, but some people want to get into the aisle and re-enact every Olympic event. They will be the ones hogging that little space by the emergency exits doing a full range of callisthenics, yoga and martial arts demonstrations. That's absolutely great if they've got an aisle seat but it's a total nightmare when you've got it and they have to climb over you every time they feel the need for another workout.

4 Fragrant Abuse
Body odour is absolutely fine if everyone has it. In the dark ages if you washed you were rightly taken to be some kind of pervert or witch or both. Nowadays the only person that doesn't notice BO is the person who has it. When that person sits next to you it's like having a garbage truck reversing up to you, opening its tailgate and letting you breathe in for the next few hours. Sadly, it's socially unacceptable to spray somebody else with the deodorant you're carrying. Ask for an upgrade for yourself or a downgrade to cargo for them.

5 Newbies
Frequent travellers often forget that most other people are infrequent travellers. You may have commuted on the same line or been flying for forty years but for the person next to you everything that you've grown totally accustomed to is wildly exciting. It's amazing how much fun and excitement a newbie traveller can get from an air nozzle. They'll also be wanting to look out of the window a hell of a lot which is fine if that's where they're sitting but means they'll have their head permanently in front of yours if that's where you're sitting.

6 Talkers
You know that person you try and avoid at all costs at parties because they're incredibly dull? That's the very same person who's booked the seat next to you on the flight to New Zealand. They now have the opportunity to share their encyclopaedic knowledge of cacti with you for nearly twenty four hours without pause. The fact that you've got ear plugs in, your eye shades down and your blanket up won't make any difference to their conversation. They'll be so happy with the fact that you haven't voluntarily left the aircraft, they'll happily chunter on.

7 Bag Ladies
A few passengers simply don't understand the concept of hand luggage and shuffle on board with fourteen different bits and pieces in carrier bags, holdalls, bum bags, back packs and raffia sacks, instantly making their seating area look like a refugee camp. It's an absolutely golden rule with these people that they will need a vital item from each and every one of these bags at least every fifteen minutes which will then necessitate an incredible amount of baggage handling for the next fifteen minutes.

8 Laid Back People
On aircraft, especially in the cheap rows, the person in the seat directly in front of you is generally the most selfish and thoughtless person in world history. The first time you're aware of this is when they shove their seat fully back, catapulting your red wine onto your only pair of trousers. That's when you decide to shove all the pointed keys and ironmongery you happen to be carrying deep into the seat pocket in front of you for them to rest their back on for the next couple of hours. There's not much point putting your own seat back because this gives easier access to the baby behind to climb over and vomit on your head.

9 Babies
There should be separate noise proof, wipe down aircraft for small babies and toddlers. Or at least a cordon of fourteen seats between you and it. Toddlers either love travel and will therefore be very excited and want to beat your head with their rattle for most of the flight. Or, they will absolutely hate it, and scream directly into your ear with much the same effect as beating your head with their rattle.

10 Terrorists
It can be pretty annoying having a terrorist sitting next to you on a plane. For a start they'll be sweating heavily and fidgeting. They'll then be up and down to the lavatory every five minutes with an assortment a small bottles to fill and mix. Some might be wearing incredibly bulky underwear which inevitably will be taking up some of your seat space. The only good thing about sitting next to a terrorist is that once they get the firelighters out and try to ignite their shoes/pants/explosive cocktail, you do then have everybody's permission to do exactly what you want to do with all the other annoying passengers and that is get them in a headlock and punch their lights out.