New Delhi (IPA Service): ‘Pee-gate’, standing for the incident of a top executive of a multinational urinating on a co-passenger in an inumbrated state, was a new year sensation. The man, Shankar Mishra, was banned from flying for four months while Air India, the operator of the New York-Delhi flight on which the clumsy behaviour occurred, was slapped a fine of Rs 3 million for failure to prevent the mid-air drama. The incident itself happened in November 2022, but it came to light only in January this year.
While such an incident was unheard of until then, a series of unruly behaviour by air passengers has followed. In the same month, two foreign nationals were asked to deboard from a Mumbai-bound Go First flight from Goa for allegedly misbehaving with a cabin crew member. In March this year, an Indian man travelling from New York to Delhi aboard an American Airline flight was detained at the Delhi airport for allegedly urinating on his co-passenger.
In yet another shocking incident, a man working as a cook in an African country travelling on a Mumbai-Delhi Air India flight was arrested on landing for allegedly defecating and urinating in the aircraft. According to the complaint filed by the plane’s crew, fellow passengers were incensed and agitated over the misconduct and as the flight touched down at the Delhi airport, security personnel escorted the man out of the airport.
In a bizarre incident, a passenger travelling on an IndiGo domestic Chennai-Tiruchirapalli flight last year had accidentally opened the emergency exit during the boarding process. Although the man apologised for his action, it led to a delay as the crew had to again carry out airworthiness checks like reinstalling doors, and pressurization checks before allowing the aircraft to take off.
There have also been incidents involving violent passengers during flights, with reports of heated arguments between passengers and cabin crew on IndiGo’s Istanbul-New Delhi flight on 16 December, and a mid-air scuffle among passengers on a Bangkok-Kolkata flight of Thai Airways on 26 December.
The big jump in the number of unruly behaviour by passengers seems to be somewhat a post-Covid phenomenon, according to data compiled by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), although the problem has always been there and engaged the attention of governments, administrators and airline managements.
IATA has released a new analysis showing that reported unruly passenger incidents increased in 2022 compared to 2021. Latest figures show that there was one unruly incident reported for every 568 flights in 2022, up from one per 835 flights in 2021. The most common categorizations of incidents in 2022 were non-compliance, verbal abuse and intoxication. Physical abuse incidents remain very rare, but these had an alarming increase of 61% over 2021, occurring once every 17,200 flights.
More recently, the Covid -19 pandemic brought the issue of unruly and disruptive behaviour to the attention of governments and regulators vividly because of non-compliance with face mask mandates. As the public health situation has improved, most of these mask mandates have now been removed, through many governments, regulators, and law enforcement authorities have started to review and implement new, more robust ways to deter unruly and disruptive passenger incidents. IATA has called for more states to take the necessary authority to prosecute passengers under Montreal Protocol 2014.
“The increasing trend of unruly passenger incidents is worrying. Passengers and crew are entitled to a safe and hassle-free experience on board. For that, passengers must comply with crew instructions. While our professional crews are well trained to manage unruly passenger scenarios, it is unacceptable that rules in place for everyone’s safety are disobeyed by a small but persistent minority of passengers. There is no excuse for not following the instructions of the crew,” said Conrad Clifford, IATA’s Deputy Director General.
Although non-compliance incidents initially fell after the mask mandates were removed on most flights, the frequency began to rise again throughout 2022 and ended the year some 37% up on 2021. The most common examples of non-compliance were smoking of cigarettes, e-cigarettes, vapes and puff devices in the cabin or lavatories; failure to fasten seatbelts when instructed; exceeding the carry-on baggage allowance or failing to store baggage when required and consumption of own alcohol on board.
While it’s true that only a tiny minority of the 4.3 billion passengers that travel by air each year (pre- pandemic) become unruly, they have a disproportionate impact. The association cautions that such incidents maythreaten the safety and security of the aircraft, other passengers, and crew; cause physical, mental, and emotional harm to other passengers and crew; and result in inconvenience to other passengers due to operational disruption on account of delays and diversions.
Statistics from both industry and regulators such as the UK Civil Aviation Authority, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) point to a long-term trend of increasing frequency and severity of unruly passenger incidents. It seems clear that this will continue to be an issue that needs to be addressed.
IATA itself has been collecting and analysing safety reports from member airlines including incidents relating to unruly and disruptive passengers since 2007. The most recent report from January 2021 to December 2022 has been developed using aggregated and de-identified data from IATA’s IDX program. A total of 20,301 reports were extracted in the period.
The IATA data incident rate per 1,000 flights for the calendar year was 1.2 or 1 incident for every 835 flights. This increased to 1.76 or 1 incident for every 568 flights in 2022. Non-compliance with crew instruction was the most frequent descriptor. The number of reports mentioning verbal and physically abusive behaviours also increased in 2022.
Non-compliance with crew instructions that are mandated by national law or regulations can have safety implications – for example, smoking in the lavatory is a dangerous fire hazard while consuming alcohol that is not served onboard and becoming intoxicated, can also have implications for the timely evacuation of the aircraft in an emergency.
IATA has been working with other stakeholders to ensure that other parties in the value chain understand they have an important role to play in preventing incidents. For example, this could include ensuring airport authorities, bars, restaurants, and duty-free outlets are promoting and selling alcohol responsibly and working with local airport police to put clear procedures in place so that there is clarity should unruly and disruptive passengers being delivered into police custody.
The association further points out that it is essential that airlines ensure their handling staff and agents understand the need to monitor passenger behaviour at check-in and at the boarding gate and communicate to flight and cabin crew any concerns they so that they can make an informed decision can be made to deny boarding. It cites the UK Industry Code of Conduct on Unruly and Disruptive Passengers as a good example.(IPA Service)
By K Raveendran. The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Aryavarth Express.