Passengers might be returning to the skies after the Covid pandemic but it seems they’ve forgotten how to behave on a plane.
There has been an unprecedented surge in unruly behaviour on planes, according to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. The U.S. flight authority has investigated more than 620 such incidents so far this year, compared to just 183 in 2020 and 146 in 2019. A U.S. flight attendant union survey revealed last month that 85% of respondents had dealt with disruptive passengers in 2021 and more than 15% had experienced a “physical incident”.
Worst behaviour ever
Flight attendants report mask compliance, alcohol, routine safety reminders, flight delays and cancellations are all factors fuelling the bad behaviour. “This is the worst it’s ever been. Everyone is at a stress level 10 coming out of the pandemic,” Taylor Garland, a spokeswoman for AFA, told the Guardian. The Federal Aviation Administration said 2,729 mask-related incidents alone were reported so far in 2021. Video posted on Instagram last month showed a passenger who had been bound to his seat with tape on a Frontier Airlines flight after he allegedly behaved aggressively and tried to inappropriately touch two flight attendants and punch another one.
