‘Air Rage’ Incidents Taking Off

Incidents of ‘air rage’ rose substantially in 2015 and often involved drug or alcohol intoxication.

There were 10,854 air rage incidents last year, 1,538 more than the year before, according to figures released by the International Air Transport Association. That worked out to one incident for every 1,025 flights, the association said.

In 2014, there was one incident for every 1,282 flights.

“The majority of incidents involved verbal abuse, failure to follow lawful crew instructions and other forms of antisocial behavior,” according to the association, but 11 percent included physical aggression towards passengers or crew or damage to the aircraft.”

Alcohol or drug intoxication factored into nearly a quarter of the incidents, the associtation said, “though in the vast majority of instances these were consumed prior to boarding or from personal supply without knowledge of the crew."

photo via Patch archive