Vulgar, drunken and violent videos of airline passengers have become commonplace, but it’s not just a social media trend. Statistics show that the number of infected people is on the rise.
As the airline industry recovers from the coronavirus pandemic, there has been a surge in incidents, with airlines expecting to operate a near-record 4.35 billion passengers this year.
According to aviation trade group IATA, one in 568 flights in 2022 will have an accident involving a misbehaving passenger, compared with 1 in 835 in 2021.
IATA recently noted that “after mask requirements were removed on most flights, incidents of non-compliance initially declined, but their frequency began to rise again through 2022, an increase of about 37% compared to 2021. It’s the end of the year,” he said.
The most common incidents are passengers smoking or using e-cigarettes on board or in the bathroom, failing to fasten their seatbelts, failing to comply with baggage restrictions or storage instructions, and consuming alcohol on board themselves. And so on.
Incidents of physical attacks remain rare, with only 1 in 17,200 flights in 2022, representing a 61% increase year-over-year.
In the United States, violent incidents increased tenfold to 6,000 from 2017 to 2021, and the politicization of mask-wearing during the pandemic is the source of much of the conflict.
“It was a crazy time. People did a lot of weird things,” said JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes.
“Since the masking rules went away, it’s gone down significantly. It’s still slightly up compared to 2019, but it’s pretty much back to normal,” he added.
But the accident rate in the first half of this year was almost double what it was before the pandemic, according to Federal Aviation Administration data. And this despite the FAA’s “zero tolerance” policy for unruly passengers, which last year fined $8.4 million for passengers who sometimes risked criminal prosecution.
The European Aviation Safety Agency said the incident rate had declined since the peak of the pandemic, but the severity of the problem “appears to have increased considerably”.
The most commonly cited reasons are travel stress, lack of personal space on the plane, smoking cessation, and alcohol abuse.
Caraibe Airlines stewards testified at a trial in 2022 that they had seized 31 bottles of alcohol while on board.
psychology, handcuffs, distractions
EASA’s head of safety promotion, John Franklin, said at a recent webinar, “We’re seeing far more angry passengers in general, which law enforcement officials say is seen by a wide range of people across the country. It’s very consistent,” he said.
This “doesn’t necessarily make us feel better, but it’s not just about aviation.”
Undercover agents often travel to trouble-prone routes, but flight attendants are most often the ones who have to deal with problem passengers.
They are trained in psychology to de-escalate situations as well as self-defense.
Planes are equipped with plastic handcuffs to restrain out-of-control passengers in their seats if dialogue or warning fails. As a last resort, the captain can divert the plane and disembark all passengers.
Some countries, such as France, have increased fines for unruly conduct.
Failure to comply with a flight attendant’s order can result in a fine of €10,000 ($11,200), and double the fine for repeat offenses. If the safety of an aircraft is endangered, fines of up to €75,000, a four-year flight ban and five years in prison can be imposed.
IATA wants changes to make it easier to prosecute offenders on international flights.
Jurisdiction is determined by the country of registration of the aircraft, so the authorities of the country where the aircraft lands do not have the power to prosecute unruly passengers.
