Air rage during the pandemic – where it is and isn’t happening
The videos light up social media and dominate news headlines.
From verbal confrontations to all-out brawls, scenes of airplane passengers behaving badly have become increasingly familiar in Covid-era travel.
While “air rage” may seem to be another inevitability of living through a pandemic, some parts of the world are seeing fewer frustrations unleashed in the skies.
Where ‘air rage’ is high
Before the pandemic, there were between 100 to 150 reports of unruly passengers in a typical year on U.S. airlines.
In 2021, there were nearly 6,000, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, with some 72% related to mask disputes.
“The issue is mostly a U.S. problem,” said Shem Malmquist, a visiting instructor at Florida Institute of Technology’s College of Aeronautics. “Part of this is absolutely related to the politicization of the pandemic in U.S. politics. That aside, U.S. passengers are considered to be more generally problematic by most cabin crew.”
Europe is also grappling with its share of disruptive passengers. High-profile incidents have been reported on flights departing from Spain, Scotland, Amsterdam and Glasgow.
Australia’s major airlines launched a joint campaign in 2021, following an increase in abusive behavior among flyers. Videos and airport signage have been put up to remind travelers to bring masks and respectful attitudes on board.
The International Air Transport Association held a panel discussion about unruly passengers, immediately followed by another on “cabin crew well-being,” during a two-day conference in Lisbon, Portugal, in December 2021.
Angus Mordant| Bloomberg | Getty Images
Different cultural norms?
In Asia, news of unruly flyers remains scarce.
“I have not heard of any incidents — zip, none,” said Jeffrey C. Lowe, CEO of the Hong-Kong-based aviation services company Asian Sky Group.
“Airline schedules are still greatly reduced,” he said of travel within Asia. Plus, there is “the pre-existing acceptance for masks in Asia before the pandemic … and, last but not least, a different perception here in Asia as to what infringes on our personal freedoms.”
Mask-wearing is an accepted practice in many Asian countries to prevent spreading or getting an illness. In an CNBC Travel story about Japan’s Shibuya Crossing, a 360-degree image shows at least eight people wearing masks near Tokyo’s famous intersection — long before the pandemic began.
Malmquist agrees that the issue is “certainly a large part cultural.” However, he said, “we cannot rule out that the flying is still so restricted in Asia that those who are flying are heavily supervised, with the ratio of cabin crew to passengers quite high.”
Plus, there have been fewer leisure travelers in Asia, he said, noting flyers there have been “almost exclusively business” travelers.
Airlines ‘don’t have major issues’
Korean Airlines indicated mask acceptance is helping to quell in-flight meltdowns.
An airline representative initially told CNBC: “We haven’t observed any outstanding…
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