New research has found that one in 11 British fliers admit to having had a sexual encounter in full public view while sat in their seat during a flight – compared with a mere one in seven who claim to have got frisky behind closed doors in the toilet.

The poll by flight comparison website www.Jetcost.co.uk revealed the experiences of almost 2200 Brits who had flown at least once in the last 12 months. But not everyone’s grabbing the joystick in mid-air. The survey also found that just over three-quarters of passengers – 77 per cent – have had no sexual experiences on a plane at all.

Almost a quarter (23 per cent) of those who had indulged in naughtiness in their seats confessed to having been caught in the act by an air steward or fellow passenger. A further 29 per cent said they were “unsure” whether they had been rumbled, while almost a half (48 per cent) insisted they’d got away with their in-flight entertainment.

When asked why they’d got down to it in their seats a whopping four in 10 respondents (39 per cent) admitted they were turned on by the risk of getting caught. A further 34 per cent said no one in the nearby seats could see them, and a quarter (24 per cent) confessed that it had always been a fantasy. One in five (20 per cent) said their bold display had been inspired by erotic works of literatures such as ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’, and 17 per cent acknowledged that alcohol had played a part.

The poll found that the most favoured items used to disguise seat-based sexual activities were coats (42 per cent), blankets (38 per cent) and hand luggage (15 per cent).

But the Brits are still lagging behind other nations, with an outrageous 24 per cent of French people and 18 per cent of Italians admitting to having turned their seats into a personal cockpit of sexual fun. The Spanish (6 per cent) and the Germans (4 per cent) were a little more conservative.

Antoine Michelat, co-founder of Jetcost.co.uk, said: “While there’s always been jokes around the ‘mile high club’, it’s one thing to get down and dirty with your partner in the aeroplane toilet away from other passengers’ eyes, but it’s a completely different thing to act on these impulses whilst sat in your seat. Here you are surrounded by fellow passengers – possibly even families or people of different moral or religious standing. There’s quite simply a time and a place for everything and in a public cabin is most certainly not it.”

Talking of hand luggage, we don’t suppose there’s any chance of a….? Oh, never mind…