Cranky Skies: Fliers Behave Badly Again

The Wall Street Journal

Cranky Skies: Fliers Behave Badly Again
As 9/11 Era Fades Airline Personnel Bear Brunt of Dissatisfaction; Rep. Filner Faces Charges
By SUSAN CAREY
September 12, 2007; Page A1

For a brief time after Sept. 11, 2001, civility seemed to reign in the skies above America... Today, the picture isn't so pretty... American Airlines told the Transportation Security Administration in July, that a passenger on a flight to New York had slapped a flight attendant across the face when the plane was ordered emptied in Miami after bad weather kept the flight from leaving. Police were called.

After a summer of packed flights, delays, lengthy security procedures and dwindling on-board amenities, airlines are dealing with what many employees, experts -- and frequent fliers themselves -- feel is a worrisome deterioration in passenger comportment. "Abnormal, aberrant or abusive behavior in the context of the air-travel experience" is back with a vengeance, says Andrew Thomas, an assistant professor of business at the University of Akron, who has written books about air rage and aviation "insecurity" and maintains a Web site called airrage.org. Mr. Thomas sees an entitlement mind-set in today's flying public, especially among business travelers. "Nobody tells a lot of these guys 'no,' " he says. "So when a flight attendant tells them to turn off the phone or the BlackBerry or that they can't have another drink, they don't know how to hear 'no,' " he says.

The numbers of unruly passenger cases tracked by government agencies vary and in many instances underreport the problem, according to authorities. The Federal Air Marshal Service shows a steady increase from 2004, when it began automated record keeping. Airport police at some large hubs also say their numbers are up in the past few years, and anecdotal evidence suggests the problem -- along with numerous lesser displays of passenger rudeness and intolerance -- is on the rise.

(snip)

In July, a doctor who missed his Northwest flight in Seattle allegedly called 911 three times to say there was a bomb on board, hoping the plane would return so he could make the flight, according to a Federal Bureau of Investigation affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle. The plane did come back, but the doctor was arrested for allegedly making a false threat against an aircraft.

Last month, a female United Airlines baggage employee at Dulles Airport called the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority police after a passenger allegedly attempted to enter an employees-only area, pushed aside the woman's outstretched arm and refused to leave. Officers interviewed the traveler, U.S. Rep. Bob Filner, a California Democrat from Chula Vista, and before releasing him advised him that the United worker would be pursuing charges. A local magistrate issued a summons for the congressman to appear in court Oct. 2 on misdemeanor assault and battery charges. Rep. Filner, in a statement, said, "I did not want things to turn out as they did, with offense obviously taken and much misunderstanding." Earlier he disputed accounts of the incident as factually incorrect and said the charges were "ridiculous."

(snip)

In August, Mr. Glover says, a passenger on a flight to Dallas from Buenos Aires drank two-thirds of a bottle of his own duty-free liquor, got into a confrontation with several passengers, then urinated in the cabin before passing out in his seat. Police were called to meet the plane. Aside from giving their attendants and airport agents better training and more support, airlines can sue passengers for damages. Carriers also have a final, secret weapon: their own "no fly" lists of customers they won't transport under any circumstances.


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is also smaller seats, lengthy security lines, etc. I hate flying anymore. It used to be fun but now it is a nightmare.

and contortion.

on other passengers, or crew..

The only good thing that can come from it is harder push for dedicated, bullet train for short distances - less than 500 miles.

then it will be a lot like flying is now...

No matter how small the seat, or how long the delay.

I would attribute those things to the "instant gratification" notion. "I want it, and I want it now".

Last xmas, I flew from LAX to Miami to St. Thomas. Xmas day. I got to the airport EARLY, knowing I might be there all day. Had a few drinks, bought a good book, and didn't get to St. T until 10 p.m. Was I mad enough to slap a Flight Attendant? Nah. But that's just me.

You want nightmare? Every summer my family used to travel from So. Cal. to OKC in a car. Try spending two days in the back seat of a Ford station wagon with a sister four years your junior. No AC. No stops for pee unless you SWORE you were going to pee your pants. The highlight of my day? A small stack of Pringles (COUNTED, so as not to get more than my sister) and a Coke.

I made it work though. I hid four or five Pringles chips until my sister finished hers. Then I'd whip mine out with a smile. MOMMMMMM!!!! I swear my dad drove with his left hand, and his body facing the back seat for more miles than he drove regular. Threats. "I'm gonna pull this car over and kick your !!!!".

God, those were the days.

Say, were you in the car in front of us. You lucky dog, we didn't get Pringles. I didn't have a whole candy bar or a whole Coke to myself until I went away to college. Yeah, sorry my brother was such a jerk sticking out his tongue and all.

We watered more than one cotton field too. Learned one of my greatest survival skills as a female-learning to squat without getting poke in the butt by weeds.

When in those few instances we traveled with my grandparents, we were in a pickup and "cabover" camper. No bathroom. Plenty of Folger's coffee cans though! And yes, they kept the lids.

pronounce the word pecan. When they pronounce it 'peecan'-I remember my grandparents and those portable chamber pot. But then again-if I had to trudge through the snow to an outhouse in the middle of the night, I might own one too. Different time, diffrent world.

Not stopping for potty breaks is abusive.

due to neurological damage. Heck, I might even be rotting in a shallow grave along Route 66. I was in awe and fear of my old man. He's softened some, but you could never call him "warm and fuzzy".

I've been trying to "break the cycle" my whole life. When I was younger, people used to say "you're just like your dad". I haven't heard that in over a decade.

Okay, so I killed most of the people who said it...

Just kidding. Honest.

it has everything to do with a society getting increasingly uncivil..

You can see it in every facet of life.. We are becoming more detached from 'strangers' and assholeism is running rampant..

Even here on DU, people will say things that - one hopes - they would never dream of telling a perfect stranger in his/her face.

of fairly short business flights, after a decade of no commercial flying. It was such a horrible experience that I will never voluntarily go anywhere again by airliner.

From the mid sixties 'til the mid eighties, I flew all around the US and Canada, fixing computers and peripherals. At the time, that was sometimes an aggravating experience, but the really uncouth characters, the ones who seem to go out of their way to make an annoying experience into a personal catastrophe generally did not fly.

Too bad the world has gotten to a much sorrier, more dismal place.

I have not seen many altercations between stewardess and passenger that didn't begin with the stewardess being an asshole,

'petroleum transfer engineer' HAHAHAHA!


:eyes:

I can't remember the last time I saw a flight attendant act less then professionally. I can't count how many times I've seen passengers act like jackasses.

I'm not doubting your experiences.

It's interesting how things turn out that way. Maybe it's the airline, or maybe it's just coincidence.

I dislike being on flights to Vegas, Orlando, or other destinations where many passengers are heading to a vacation spot. It seems to be a recipe for more bad behavior by passengers.

On the other hand, I'd say that one out of every three coast-to-coast flights that I've been on in the past 5 years has had at least one flight attendant who needed a time out and my friends who are road warriors on other airlines echo that sentiment.

calls reporters "assholes", tells one of his collegues to "go fuck himself" then refuses to apologize and even says he "feels better for it" ... it's no wonder that incivility is everywhere. x( :-(

I flew a lot before deregulation. yeah, we had lots of people hijacking planes to cuba (no plane was ever lost), the tickets were a bit pricier.

There was actual food (jokes, yes but it was hot food), airlines competed based on service since prices were set by regulators (service, remember that?),etc

If you fly on airlines of other nations which are still regulated, you can still have a pleasant experience.

And I observe it in so many places. Not just airlines. Movie theaters, restaurants, the highway. People just act rude. I wish we could all act more civil to each other.

Maybe we need to bring back the duel. People are always more polite when being rude could get you a sword in the gullet. }(

Most of the rage every place is anonymous.

I have to eat several times a day, and they don't provide food anymore.

I can get the shakes and cry and start throwing up and get paranoid, if I don't eat regularly.

I have bought food in the airport and taken it on board, and still gotten hungry again before the flight was over, even if it was not terribly long.

You have to have sugar for immediate relief from symptoms and then a good slug of protein to stabilize blood sugar.

Corporate america thinks we can all go without potty breaks, without lunch breaks, without sleep, you name it. I don't think the airlines are any different.

She has some truly unbelievable stories that never make it to print.

bottom line, treat people with respect and it's amazing what can happen.

I have flown on stand by many a time and if you want to know what frustrating is, try that. But the rule of the game is, keep your cool. if you do, the airline will work with you, they do, believe it or not, want happy passengers.

And as far as break downs that require maintenance on planes, yes, they should make a general announcement or update on their website, but they don't do that because most business travelers will cancel their ticket and go with someone else. I know it doesn't make it right, but that's the reasoning behind it.

to anyone and follow their own rules suddenly find themselves face to face with the reality of having to wait your turn...like everyone else; the result isn't pretty.

Not just on airplanes. It's everywhere people deal with each other: in the classroom, in the grocery line, on the road, in a movie theater, at the office, on the jobsite.