Airlines report 17 per cent rise in unruly passengers

MONTREAL/ NEW YORK: Reports of unruly passengers disrupting airline flights have soared almost 17 per cent worldwide in 2015, with incidents such as passengers being verbally abusive or refusing to obey cabin crew occurring on one out of every 1,205 flights, the international trade association for airlines said on Wednesday.

Some 10,854 plane rage incidents were reported to the International Air Transport Association by airlines last year, up from 9,316 incidents in 2014, IATA said.

This equates to one incident for every 1,205 flights, compared with one incident for every 1,282 flights in 2014. Planes have made emergency landings because escalating conflicts put passengers at risk. A man on a Southwest Airlines Co flight started a fight with a woman sitting in front of him in October 2015 after she reclined her seat.

“The kind of behaviours that ... might be acceptable on the ground take on a completely different complexion when you’re in the air,” said Tom Colehan, IATA’s assistant director of government and industry affairs on the sidelines of a United Nations aviation assembly in Montreal.

Industry officials estimate the cost of diverting a longhaul flight to remove an unruly passenger at US$ 200,000.

Colehan said ‘ frustrations with journey,’ including long security lines could be triggers. “I don’t think anybody knows exactly the reason driving the rise,” he said.

“Perhaps it’s just ref lective of societal changes where anti- social behaviour is more prevalent and perhaps more accepted.” Alcohol or drug intoxication was identified by IATA as a factor in 23 per cent of the cases.’ — AFP