By Sandy Wells
KABC News
Incidents by unruly passengers on commercial flights have been edging up lately. Is it the annoying baggage fees and consequent rush to get overhead space for your bag that chips away at passenger’s civility?
Chris Goater is a spokesman for the International Air Transport Association. He says there’s an element of stress for many people when they’re on a flight. But only a small number act out their anxieties
“We’re talking about a very, very small number of people, really. I mean, we’re talking about one incident every one thousand, two hundred flights or so. It sounds a lot, but in the great scheme of the number of people flying, that’s actually not that high. But it is rising and that’s why we want to keep an eye on it.”
Goater says most incidents are not threatening to passenger safety.
“The majority of incidents are not actually physically aggressive. They are verbal abusive, which can never be excused, of course. That’s upsetting to everyone. The actual physical attacks are actually quite rare.”
Goater says that international law used to make it all but impossible to prosecute someone who disrupted a flight.
“What we’re seeing now is that governments are getting the power to prosecute people and fine them. And so we hope that when that message gets through, people will start to think twice before they misbehave on a flight.”
Goater was a guest on 790 KABC’s McIntyre in the Morning with Doug McIntyre and Terri-Rae Elmer.