The rise in air rage
Can airlines do anything to prevent the increase in passengers being met by police at airports?
It’s not just the number of frequent flyers that increases every year, so does the number of police officers waiting at arrival terminals to arrest unruly passengers. This summer, alone, there have been dozens of incidents of airline passengers becoming verbally or physically violent on planes, usually over what appears to be relatively minor issues, such as a late meal or refusal to serve more alcohol.
Aviation psychologist Professor Robert Bor says the stress of air travel can be immense and that it is often underestimated until someone blows up – then, of course, it makes headlines. One in 10 people on an aircraft would rather not be there, he says. While not necessarily phobic about air travel, they may find it very stressful to be out of control, or have a fear of enclosed spaces or of crashing. They might also be fearful of being away from family and friends and their familiar environment.
“We mustn’t forget that people are not always getting on board aircraft, rubbing their hands with glee, excited about what they’re going to do,” he says.
“Some people have a lot of apprehension and a lot of anxiety and that’s before the journey has begun.”
Even booking a ticket can be stressful, he says. Fares can go up within an hour or tickets can suddenly become unavailable, or families miss out on booking seats together.
Getting to and from airports can be difficult, especially if it’s in an unfamiliar city or at night, or during rush hour.
“By the time we get to the airport, we can be already exhausted, wound up and full of adrenalin.”
The physical environment also contributes, Prof Bor says, especially because airlines are inclined to fit as many passengers into the cabin as possible.
“There may be a struggle for locker space for carry-on, or for the arm rest. If you are in economy, the seat gets jammed against your knees. There is a huge struggle for space and control.
“Add hypoxia to that, which is lowered air pressure, and a dry cabin and this causes irritability and competitive behaviour – plus if the meal isn’t served at the right time, or you’re a bit jetlagged, or maybe you took medication to help you sleep on a previous flight, it all adds up.”
According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) there were more than 28,000 reported cases of “unruly passenger incidents” between 2007 and 2013. The UK’s The Sun newspaper reported this month that the number of alcohol-related incidents on planes almost doubled between 2013 and last year. According to Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority there were 271 incidents between April last year and March this year, and 190 during the same period the year before.
New guidelines to deal with the issue, entitled guidance on unruly passenger prevention and management, were released this year by IATA to help assist airlines with staff training.
An unruly passenger is someone “who fails to respect the rules of conduct at an airport or
on board an aircraft, or to follow the instructions of the airport staff or crew members and thereby disturbs the good order and discipline at an airport or on board the aircraft”.
Examples include ignoring instructions to fasten seat belts, not smoke or to turn off portable electronic devices or threatening, sexually abusing or carrying out physical confrontations with crew or other passengers.
A 2008 study in the International Journal of Applied Aviation
Studies examined who was most likely to suffer air-travel stress. A look at more than 3,000 passengers indicated that those most likely to experience air-travel anger resulting from stress were men with an annual household income of at least US$ 60,000 ( Dh220,000) who were international travellers.
Jonathan Bricker, an affiliate associate professor at the Department of Psychology at University of Washington and author of the study, said that the results could help with creating public- health interventions – such as videos to be played in airport lounges or on planes – to illustrate the stresses of air travel and ways to cope.
Dr Yaseen Aslam, a consultant psychologist who works at the LightHouse Arabia community psychology clinic in Dubai, says there is no single factor that causes air rage. “The toxic combination of anxiety, stress, poor sleep and alcohol can precipitate a loss of control resulting in violent or disruptive behaviour,” he says.
Dr Aslam suggests that passengers who suffer severe anxiety disorders or other psychiatric conditions that effect their tolerance threshold for stress should consult a mental-health professional or doctor before taking flights, particularly long- haul ones.
Airlines could also take measures to cut the number of airrage incidents, he says.
“[They] could limit the amount of alcohol available for consumption, increase aisle width and provide more comfortable seats to increase the comfort factor associated with air travel,” he says.
“Further notifying passengers of in-flight surveillance cameras may also act as an important deterrent.”
Airline staff should be vigilant for warning signs that a person might be becoming overly stressed and diffuse the situation early.
“It is imperative for all staff to be trained in de-escalation techniques and have a thorough understanding of the protocols for managing disruptive and aggressive passengers,” he says.
Another study by Bricker identified four basic constructs relating to air-travel stress.
They are situation- specific stresses, general life stresses, general coping styles and general personality traits.
The last one implies it is wrong to assume the perpetrators of air rage are acting completely out of character.
Prof Bor, director of Dynamic Change Consultants in London, agrees. Those with a general sense of entitlement in their everyday lives can often make unreasonable demands and be unsatisfied when they are not met. Similarly, people with little capacity to reflect on the environment they are in and therefore adapt to it, are also at risk of experiencing air rage.
Some of the culprits, Prof Bor says, have personality traits that are likely to have caused difficulty in the past. They may have had police cautions or very poor conduct records at school.
“It’s not just some old lady in seat 37A who suddenly goes ballistic, you will often find that there is a trail of patterns of behaviour that have given rise to this kind of outburst.” As a coping mechanism for travel stress, passengers might turn to alcohol, which adds another quirk to the mix. According to Prof Bor, one drink of alcohol in the air is the equivalent of two on the ground because of the way the body breaks it down, so people flying often become more intoxicated than they had bargained for.
The effect is compounded if someone has also taken medication, is jet-lagged or has consumed recreational drugs at some point before boarding.
There is also the issue of smoking; people who would ordinarily turn to smoking to quell their anxiety might be inclined to drink more.
If the number of incidents is to be reduced, Prof Bor says, there needs to be more passenger education but also airlines to acknowledge that their overall treatment of flyers also contributes to the problem.
While they are keen to give passengers a good experience by providing alcohol, for example, they have a duty to educate them about the implications of alcohol at altitude and ways of coping with travel stress.
Also, as companies try to devise new ways to “cram more people in” to planes, the cabins become increasingly congested.
“It’s all about revenue nowadays, the passenger experience is secondary to that.
“Many airlines do not take the same amount of care around the passenger experience as they might have done in a previous generation.
“Something is being lost in the passengers’ travel experience and unfortunately some can’t cope with that and that is a problem.
“Airlines need to be aware that there is a component that is not just to do with angry people, it is also what they do about people.”
Airlines need to acknowledge that they have a part to play in the phenomenon of air rage