As summer airline travel picks up, so does unruly behavior from passengers

A warning as the Northern Hemisphere summer travel season kicks off: air rage is rampant in the post-pandemic world. Recent unruly behavior includes a man allegedly pinning an American Airlines Group Inc. flight attendant to the cockpit door after an argument about vegetarian meals; an Air India Ltd. passenger being restrained after trying to open the aircraft door and attacking crew; and Qantas Airways Ltd. and its low-cost carrier Jetstar temporarily banning four drunk men in Australia for allegedly verbally abusing customers and staff. Globally, there was one disorderly incident reported for every 568 flights in 2022, up from one per 835 flights in 2021, the International Air Transport Association said in a statement this month, citing data collated from more than 20,000 reports submitted by around 40 airlines. Failure to comply with crew instructions — such as using e-cigarettes and vapes and not fastening seatbelts — increased by more than a third. Fraying passenger tempers can be put down to a few things. With lounge access easier than ever, more people are drinking alcohol before boarding. There’s also the general annoyance over high ticket prices and heightened anxiety in wake of Covid. Chaotic airports, lost luggage and flight cancellations as carriers struggle with a lack of planes and labor aren’t helping either. Now the aviation industry is calling for action. IATA wants more nations to prosecute offending passengers. The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents US cabin crews, says flight attendants should be given mandatory self-defense training and security beefed up at airport screening points, boarding gates and on planes.<br/>