Stressful Times Contributing to Major Increase in Unruly Passenger Incidents
The past year has seen a significant increase in the number of airline passengers becoming violent, disruptive, or uncooperative with airline staff on flights or at airports. Such passengers, who are generally referred to as “unruly passengers” within the airline industry, can face legal, financial, and reputational harm for their behavior. Travelers should take care to avoid becoming involved in any disputes that could escalate into unruly passenger incidents, and should seek to distance themselves from any incidents that occur among other passengers while they are at the airport or onboard a flight.
Recent Trends
Airlines have reported a significant increase in unruly passenger incidents during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), airlines typically report 100-150 unruly passenger incidents per year, but reported approximately 3,500 in the first half of 2021 alone, despite airlines flying fewer passengers than normal due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While some of this increase has been due to changes in reporting standards amid an FAA crackdown on the issue, airlines and the FAA are still reporting that such incidents are more common than ever. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the same trend is also occurring elsewhere in the world.
Several factors appear to be driving the increase in unruly passenger incidents. Airlines have cited confrontations over COVID-19 safety protocols as a major cause of such incidents, with disputes over face coverings being particularly common. The FAA says that over two thirds of disruptive passenger incidents in 2021 have involved passengers refusing to wear face coverings. Political developments have also triggered some incidents; airlines reported a spike in unruly passengers during January 2021 when political tensions in the US were especially high.
The year has also seen an increase in passengers filming or photographing unruly passenger incidents, then posting the footage online. While the trend of filming such incidents began before the COVID-19 pandemic, the increase in the number of incidents has seen more such footage posted online. Media outlets often repost footage of unruly passengers, greatly increasing the exposure of such videos.
Consequences
Unruly passengers can suffer legal, financial, and reputational consequences for their actions. Airlines typically remove unruly passengers from flights if the aircraft is on the ground and ban them from further flights on the airline. Some airlines have also sued unruly passengers to recoup the costs of diverting a plane to another airport to remove the passenger from the flight; in 2018 a court ordered a passenger to pay a US airline nearly USD 100,000 after the passenger’s violent behavior forced the airline to divert a flight.
Passengers who disrupt flights can face arrest, fines, or even jail time, although the latter is rare. Nearly all countries have laws requiring passengers to obey lawful crewmember instructions and forbidding disruptive or violent behavior on flights. In the US, the most common legal consequence is a fine of up to approximately USD 50,000. US authorities rarely jail passengers for becoming disruptive on a flight unless they commit other crimes while doing so.
Unruly passengers can also suffer damage to their reputations from their actions, especially if their incidents are filmed. A video of an incident can reach a very large audience, especially if major media outlets republish it. Media outlets also typically publish the names of people who airlines sue for unruly behavior on a flight, or who authorities arrest for such behavior.
Recommendations
The most important recommendation related to unruly passengers is for a traveler to avoid becoming the unruly passenger themselves. While this may seem obvious, few passengers who become involved in such incidents went to the airport with the intention of causing trouble. Most incidents that end in viral videos or arrests escalate from relatively minor issues, with alcohol or prior stress often playing a role in the escalation. Travelers should avoid alcohol consumption when flying, and should strictly avoid escalating any disputes with fellow passengers while in public, no matter how obnoxiously the other passenger is acting. Travelers should also obey all laws and airline rules, including those requiring face coverings during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Additionally, travelers should take a patient approach towards airline and airport staff, especially during difficult times such as flight delays, cancelations, or oversold flight situations. Frontline staff rarely have control over such incidents, but are often under heavy stress dealing with operational issues. Passengers who treat stressed-out staff with respect and patience are much less likely to trigger a disruptive incident. If an unruly passenger incident breaks out near a traveler, the traveler should inform authorities or staff, then seek to minimize his or her involvement in the incident. If the incident occurs in an airport, the traveler should leave the area immediately.
A traveler should not become involved in an incident unless authorities or staff request assistance or a person appears to be in danger of serious harm. It is often difficult to distinguish between troublemakers and well-intentioned people trying to break up an incident in chaotic videos of unruly passengers, and a traveler trying to help may subject themselves to the same reputational harm or physical injury that the instigators of the incident experience. Such reputational harm could extend to a traveler’s employer if the traveler is wearing company-branded clothing. The best course of action, therefore, is to leave the area at the airport or stay seated on a flight and let staff members or authorities deal with the travelers causing trouble.
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