The unfriendly skies

Flight attendants say travellers are more freaked out than ever.

On a routine flight from Denver to Houston in early February, a passenger suddenly began pounding the seat in front of him. When flight attendants approached him, he began punching a window, cracking the glass and bloodying his hands. That's according to an FBI affidavit that also said he kept at it until a group of passengers managed to subdue him with shoelaces and zip ties. A month later, on a flight to Washington, DC, from Wichita, Kansas, a passenger shouted violent threats at a flight attendant, another FBI affidavit said, before turning on a fellow traveler, taking his hat and glasses and repeatedly hitting him in the face.

Airline crews have reported 12,900 unruly passenger incidents to the Federal Aviation Administration since 2021. That year kicked off a grim new era of air travel, with a record-smashing 5,973 in-flight outbursts ranging in severity from rude or disruptive behavior to outright violence — a more than 400% increase from 2019. Though 2021 remains a banner year for troublesome travelers, the blight of bad behavior hasn't let up. Last year saw double the number of unruly passenger incidents compared with 2019.

Recent news has left people even more on edge: In a March Harris Poll commissioned by The Points Guy, 65% of respondents said they were more nervous about flying because of recent airplane crashes, a known risk of passenger misconduct. In total, nearly 90% of respondents said they're now afraid of flying.

Air travel can often bring out people's worst tendencies thanks to how much of the experience is out of their control — from inconsistent TSA procedures to the sky-high cost of a sad airport lunch. Researchers have also argued that the modern airplane is a microcosm of society at large, with its divided passenger classes replicating the inequality that plays out on solid ground. On every front, flying demands a healthy reserve of patience and goodwill toward your fellow human beings. It's a pressure test on the social contract — the idea that for humans to coexist in harmony, we need to commit to a set of shared values and behaviors that put the well-being of the group first. Being a member of a well-functioning society means not always getting your way and sucking it up like an adult. Flight attendants have a front-row seat to the state of this unspoken pact in all its glory or disrepair. If society is in upheaval, then the skies will follow suit.

These days, the flight attendants I spoke with say Americans' behavior could use some serious help.

The boom in bad behavior has been decades in the making. In her 2001 book, "Air Rage," the aviation consultant Angela Dahlberg writes that throughout the '90s, the industry steadfastly worked to overhaul air travel in the name of business efficiency and "an economy of safety." These changes came at the cost of comfort and customer service. Economy cabins became more tightly packed, and passenger legroom and complimentary meals became a thing of the past. Between 1995 and 1999, the FAA reported a 58% increase in flight delays due to aviation infrastructure that couldn't keep up with booming passenger demand. It wasn't long before unruly passengers multiplied and their disruptions grew more severe.

In the aftermath of 9/11, as fear around air travel spiked — and airport security became exponentially more frustrating — air rage incidents were widely reported to have surged. Industry veterans say things got bad again in the early 2010s. Kathryn Voge, who worked as a TWA flight attendant from 1977 to 1992 before changing careers to become a crisis counselor, was just another ordinary airline customer when she came face-to-face with an unruly passenger on a 2011 flight from Paris to Philadelphia.

This story originally appeared on Business Insider.