Air Rage

This paper is going to focus on The Human Behavioural Patterns of the passengers in an aircraft in the current environment. People board the aircrafts and flights in order to reach their destination to a certain place. Starting from the gate of the airport to the door of the aircraft, the passengers are guided and attended by the supporting crew at the ground level and by the cabin crew in the aircraft. During the time of COVID-19 when everything got shut down in the whole world, the permission to get back the citizens of individual respective countries was given to the air transportation services so that people from all over the world can have the facility to return back to their country at the right time and by being safe and sound. During this trying time too, the cabin crew have served their job of serving the passengers on board diligently, even though their life was also at risk. Not only during this trying phase, at the emergency hours when the aircraft had faced any trouble or any kind of accidents like catching of fire, electric cut down, hijack, and sickness of any passengers at the time of flying, the cabin crew has always come forward to serve their duty of serving the passengers with utmost care.

However, it is considered a significantly a common incident that the behaviour of the passengers boarding aircraft has been acknowledged as gruesome towards the cabin crews. They have been found to be behaving and showing way reluctant behaviour on board and causing tantrums regarding things of unimportant mostly, with the cabin crew.

This paper is going highlight the challenges faced by the cabin crew on a regular basis while they serve their duties on board in the aircraft. Also, this paper will also discuss the way the cabin crew face and solve such situations to keep the ambience of the aircraft intact.

Lastly, the paper will be focusing on the psychological aspects as to what causes the passengers behave in the rude way as well as hurl abuses on the cabin crew on board.

A huge number of passengers travel by the aircraft on a daily basis to reach their destination. During the course of time of travelling, there have been instances, which are considered as significantly common, when the passengers have shown their uncooperative behaviour and have behaved in an inappropriate way with the cabin crew in the flight (Pratt and Tolkach, 2022). These instances of showing uncalled for kinds of behaviour had been posed as something which had been taken for granted.

History of Air Rage

At the time of emergencies, as COVID-19 is considered, when the world around human being had shut down completely with closed offices, business, school, colleges and other educational institutions, banks as well as shops were closed, the permission was given to the air transportation system to fly and get the citizens back to their countries from around the world. For all these times, the role and function of the cabin crew should be acknowledged as one of the first priorities, who had served their part in the most diligent manner to provide comfort to the passengers at their time of need even though their life is at risks (Tsang, Masiero and Schuckert, 2018). Also, apart from the situation of COVID-19, there have been instances when people get sick in the aircraft, and any types of accidents take place like catching of fire, issues of electricity, air turbulence, and hijacking in the aircraft, in such cases, the cabin crew have always come forward to serve their duty towards their profession.

The aggressive behaviour and the showcase of the violent gestures from the part of the passengers towards the crew and staff members of the aircraft are referred to the incident of Air rage (Sobieralski and Mumbower, 2022). Generally, the aggressiveness and the violence are covered from both the ends in this phenomenon. The reason for the incidents if air rage is considered to be caused by the physiological as well as the aspects of the psychological stresses related with that of the air travel (Baumeister, 2020). Additionally, it can also take place at the time when the passengers try to behave and showcase their uncooperative gestures, rudeness, unruly, violence, and anger towards the cabin crew during a swift flight of the aircraft. The excessive consumption of the alcohol can be considered as one of the major cause for the unruly as well as arrogant behaviour on the part of the passengers in the aircraft. The incidents of the air rage are some unwanted phenomenon which is rarely possible to resolve quickly by the cabin crew and, therefore, it causes the great delay in the taking off of the flights.

The probable reasons as to why the air rage incidents take place in the flights and aircraft can be considered at the time when people showed unwanted behaviour and threw tantrums in order to follow the rules and regulations of the safety measures or getting into the eyes of the cabin crew members to have possessed some behaviour of suspicion (Keithley 2020). The incidents of the air rage can very often turn into very significant and serious issues at the time when the trouble maker decides to interfere into the navigation as well as the flight controls of the aircraft or compromise with the safety of the other passengers.

Causes of Air Rage

The very first incident of the air rage had taken place during the flight from Havana to Miami in the year 1947. The incident revolved around a drunken man who had been accused of assaulting some other passenger as well as hurled abusive behaviour towards a flight cabin crew. Another one such incident revolving the drunken man took place in a flight to Alaska in the year 1950 (Schultz and Soolaki, 2021). The events of air rage had increased since the time of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) which took the initiative to collect all the data related to the disruptive and unruly behaviour of the passengers in the year of 2007 (Pan and Liu, 2022). Again, with hit of the pandemic of COVID-19, a great uptick of the incidents of the air rage had been seen as noted by the outlets of the media as well as the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States of America. Most of the air rage incidents occurred after the period of COVID-19 had been greatly related to the use of the protocols of the pandemic like the use of face masks, hand sanitizers, maintaining the social distancing and also had been covered under the attacks on the fellow passengers or the cabin crew members (Zhang et al., 2021).

The major causes of the incidents of the air rage can be considered as the stressful situations caused to the passengers by long flight hours, jet lags, huge delay in the flight. Also, the other difficult as well as annoying the crew members and the other fellow passengers in the same vicinity is considered to be causing agitation or the air rage in the aircraft. This can also lead to a situation of anxiety and panic stricken to the passengers who have the phobia to take flights. Some of the researches of the experts also claimed that one of the reasons for the incidents of the air rage can be considered as the deterioration of the conditions of the economy class travel amenities as well as the seating space for over a decade now (Shah et al., 2020).

Additionally, the easily availability of the alcoholic beverages inside the aircraft as well as in the airports made it easier for the people to consume alcohol in an excessive way and board the flight (HOANG, 2020). People who get intoxicated during the flight can create tantrums with the cabin crew members if denied of serving any further drinks. Therefore, this can give rise to the incidents of air rage in the flight.

Human Behaviour in Aircraft During COVID-19

Travel by air can be really troublesome as well as difficult even at the best of the times with people along with the cramped planes, the screaming babies, and the trouble making people posing short tempers. However, the things have gone up much higher during the time of the pandemic of COVID-19, which have had led to furious confrontations with that of the cabin crew members on board causing occasional flight delay and an environment of tensions. As reported by the Federal Aviation Administration, the air transportation had tracked around 3000 cases of the disruptive passengers all throughout the time of COVID-19, out of which around 2300 cases were regarding passengers who had refused to follow the norms and protocols of COVID-19 such as wearing of masks, frequently sanitizing and maintaining social distancing (Kim and Lee, 2022). Things have had turned out so bad that the office of the airlines as well as the union of the cabin crew members had to send a letter to the authority of the Justice Department of the US to seek for actions that deter the egregious behaviour.

A crew member of the flight is referred to the travel guide and the professional who is present inside the flight in order to ensure the safety and the comfort of the people who are on board to reach their destination (W?ziak-Bia?owolska et al., 2020). The responsibility of the flight crew members start at the moment the passengers get into the flight. Also, they have the responsibility to work and attend the call from the cockpit and from the office of the airlines. They are accountable to provide the customer service as well as the safety norms to the passengers while traveling by the air.

• To understand the information from the pilot, such as the weather related information like the forecasts of the turbulence, in order to provide the information to the passengers (Shin, Lee and Hur, 2021)
• To review the safety equipment as well as giving out the information regarding the safety protocols to the passengers
• To provide support to the accommodation of the passengers, especially to those who are sick and travel by the wheelchairs
• To aid the confirmation of the tickets as well as help the passengers to load their belongings (Khushnood, Khattak and Abbas, 2020)
• To monitor and check the conditions of the in-flight in order to consider the potential safety hazards as well as mitigate and apply them in the right manner at the time of necessity

There are several challenges which the flight crews face during the course of their job-

• To deal with the scheduled changes
• To deal with jet lags, flying during the nights, missing on the important events of their life throughout the year (de Winter et al., 2020)
• To deal with nasty, arrogant, irate as well as irrational passengers on board
• To take prompt decisions during the time of emergency
• To deal with impromptu changes in the time table
• To face the strict grooming standards on order to maintain the structure and fitness of figure (Yan?ko?lu, K?l?ç and Küçükönal, 2020)
• To deal with health issues like anxiety attacks, sleeplessness, poor mental health, substance use, breathing difficulties and panic attacks being stuck into a flight
• To deal with pressure for maintain the good reputation of the airlines
• To deal with safety in terms of harassments and molestations by the passengers
• During the period of COVID-19, they served their role to take optimum care for the passengers on board

During this recent time of the pandemic of COVID-19, people have become quite impatient and unruly regarding the things of concern. The long time spent with the avoidance of travelling to longer distances over flights and aircrafts have surged the unruly behaviour of the passengers towards the flight crew members. The studies and surveys of the Association of Flight Attendants claimed that around 58 per cent of the 5000 flight attendants across almost 30 airlines transportation had bad experiences of abuses and subjected to the verbal physical assaults as well (Tsang, Masiero and Schuckert, 2018). For example, a video by the CBS News which showed that a man named Vyvianna Quinonez had punched on the face of the flight crew in a flight to the San Diego, for he was asked to not roam around in the flight (Yang et al., 2020). Another example by the Huffpost mentioned that a flight crew had faced physical assault by three passengers because she asked them to put their masks on (Gale et al., 2018). Additionally, there had been charges against the passengers for sexual assaults, inappropriate touching, physical and racial discriminations and indecent gestures towards the flight crew members as they are looked down upon and taken for granted because they serve the people on board.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the United States of America had been approached by the airlines group of America to acknowledge their problems regarding the inappropriate behaviour against the flight crew members. The FAA had announced “zero tolerance” policy against all the disruptive and unruly behaviour from the part of the passengers on board. A fine of up to USD 30,000 can be charged upon the passengers in such cases and can also be levied with 20 years of imprisonment and they can be banned also from the particular airlines (Korovich, Jeglic and Jara, 2021).

Conclusion

The paper has highlighted the different types of human behavioural patterns of the passengers in an aircraft in the current environment and also mentioned the reasons of such behaviour possessed. People board the aircrafts and flights in order to reach their destination to a certain place. Starting from the gate of the airport to the door of the aircraft, the passengers are guided and attended by the supporting crew at the ground level and by the cabin crew in the aircraft. The paper also mentioned about the concept of Air Rage, its history and causes of occurrences in the flight. Also, the paper also talked about the human behaviour of the passengers towards the crew members in the times of COVID-19.

During this trying time too, the cabin crew have served their job of serving the passengers on board diligently, even though their life was also at risk. Not only during this trying phase, at the emergency hours when the aircraft had faced any trouble or any kind of accidents like catching of fire, electric cut down, hijack, and sickness of any passengers at the time of flying, the cabin crew has always come forward to serve their duty of serving the passengers with utmost care. Therefore, the paper also discussed about the job role of the flight crew members, their responsibilities and challenges. Lastly, the paper highlighted the disruptive inappropriate behaviour imposed on the crews from the passengers and the actions taken against them for such behaviour. 

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