In my experience, I've seen Germans are the most who clap whenever a flight lands safe irrespective of turbulence, delays. I've never seen anyone else clapping. Germans are not considered people from "poor" countries, are they @JonathanReez?

Not only poor countries, but mostly people who do not fly often (or maybe only this one time to go on vacation); I've seen my share of Quebecois clapping when landing south in Cuba (or other beach destination).

possible correlation between those who clap at the end of a flight and those who clap at the end of a film?

Seems like budget sun destination holiday travelers mostly to me. Folks who rarely fly. You'd be lucky to get a grimace out of business travelers, I've not seen it anywhere in Asia.

@SpehroPefhany could be true in some cases, but not always. I was in many flights where most passengers have never seen a plane before, and they never clap.

@HeidelBerGensis Yes, this seems to be mostly a regional thing. I've never heard clapping on a landing in the U.S. Maybe they would in a situation like Qantas 32. Perhaps also something like U.S. Air 1549, though I'd think in that situation you'd want to evacuate first, then clap later.

I've also heard this occurs regularly at notoriously dangerous airports, such as the Tenzing-Hillary Airport in Lukla, Nepal, with its extremely short runway and cliff-side location.

@smyslov. I can attest to that. I made several flights as a kid with my Mom to Germany in the 70's and clapping on landing was routine. Then I flew to Chicago on my own, and I was the only one. Perhaps its a generational thing too.

Clapping is something that Italians do too, until they fly for the first time in planes where Italians aren't the majority and they discover that most people don't clap... then they start dreading the other Italians who may initiate a general clapping and make all Italians look stupid.

Clapping at the end of a flight used to be pretty common for Puerto Ricans. Less so now, but it still happens. More often when the landing is in Puerto Rico.

So, I heard (as a Quebecker) of a LOT of jokes about "why the hell are people clapping at the end of a flight?" when I was younger. When I started flying myself I realized this wasn't the case. I've since then guessed it was indeed a generational thing.

I have heard clapping in the US. I haven't discerned any pattern. I would guess that sometimes, one person starts clapping, and then is joined by a nearby passenger, and soon it infects almost the whole cabin.

Strange -- this old internet joke seems to imply that Americans clap their hands way more than European. (Warning: contains harsh ethnic humour and a slightly nsfw image).

I’m not exactly old but in the nineties we often flew London–Frankfurt. No clapping ever. All of a sudden, in the 2000’s I was on the odd flight with clapping. I was totally confused. Because low-cost airlines had begun blossoming, I related it to new passengers who didn’t have a clue. Reading this I may have been wrong.

@Nemo Bingo on the "looking stupid" part. When people clap after landing I always wonder if I'm traveling with a group of special people.

I mostly see this with Austrian or German tourists when on vacation. I think it's basically impossible to not get clapping when flying in the summer to any greek island for example (at least that's what my hazy childhood memories of these flights implies).

It's very common for Israelis to clap when flying home, less so when traveling.

My parents always told me it was because the other passengers were glad they didn't have to be on the plane with me any more. Strangely enough, the first time I flew without my parents there was no clapping.

Wow, I didn't really know that other countries besides mine did this thing. You know, Italians are often mocked for this (we even self-mock ourselves). :D

@davidb - Difference between applauding after a flight vs. a film is that on a flight, it's likely that the flight crew will hear you and appreciate the gesture. At a film, unless you're at a Hollywood premiere or a fancy film festival, odds are that nobody responsible for the film is going to be there. I've seen applause occasionally on flights, but what does happen pretty much always is people thanking the crew upon exiting the plane.

@Darrel: Exactly. I don't know why so many people stubbornly cling to the "clapping at the end of a film" analogy to hate on people doing so at the end of a flight, when a "clapping at the end of a play" analogy is at least an order of magnitude more accurate, and we all know it would be considered rude not to applaud the cast at the end of a play.

The only time I've seen this was on either a Middle Eastern airline or Royal Brunei airlines on a flight to or from Dubai with most passengers that appeared to me to be locals from Dubai or the Middle East. It was at least 10 years ago so I don't recall exactly.

I've witnessed this both times I've been to Venezuala.

I think that it's just something, like tipping, which varies between countries/cultures. I don't think you could argue objectively that people should or should not applaud. It's just "customary".