Reports of unruly passengers skyrocketed during the pandemic, but how are we doing since then? Not so well: IATA, an international airline trade association, reported a couple of days ago that incidents of bad behavior were up 37% in 2022.
This is sort of perplexing since the pandemic year of 2021 saw a skyrocketing amount of bad behavior on airlines. It hardly seems possible that 2022 could have been even worse—and for domestic flights, anyway, the FAA reports just the opposite. The rate of unruly passenger reports has been stable for the past year:
These numbers for 2022 are way down compared to the record-setting pandemic year of 2021. And 2023 is on track to be lower still:
If there's anything odd here, it's that even in 2023 unruly passenger reports are on track to be nearly double their pre-pandemic average. It's as though everyone got mad during the pandemic and we've stayed mad ever since. But why?
As a fairly frequent flier, I would say that a lot of the bad behavior is related to the airlines' policies in recent years of charging extra for everything (bags, decent seats, etc.). People trying to get around paying these fees leads to a lot of pushing and shoving to be the first to get your bag in the overhead, and your chances of being stuck in an uncomfortable seat. maybe next to someone who should really be in a larger seat, is exponentially higher, also leading to bad moods and potentially rude behavior.
That's just totally wrong.
First of all, 40 years ago when I was a kid flying around, seat pitch on major carriers was 31 inches. It is now, usually, still 31 inches, with a few 30's and 29's on American and United. Only Spirit has totally cramped seats.
As for "charging extra", another way of putting that is that fares are unbundled so you have the option of paying less. And since the American public is really cheap (witness the success of Spirit Airlines) and will buy one ticket over another because it is $25 cheaper, that's the only way to go. In any event, I don't see the causation of how paying unbundled tickets would cause people to be rude. Were people more rude at Disneyland back when you had ticket books for different rides rather than a park passport?
I'm not sure exactly why people are ruder, but it certainly isn't because the airlines are now allowing cheap travelers to not have to pay for stuff they don't want to use. My best guess would be that the lower unbundled fares have made for fuller flights and full flights make people more agitated.
In any event, my advice is buy up to First Class. Time of departure upgrades tend not to be very expensive and things are nicer up front.
You are assuming that people are economically rational about things like extra fees, but of course they are not. And no, I don't think seats have gotten more comfortable, despite what some average measurement says. More relevant is the fact the almost every flight is chick-a-block full now, which was only rarely the case 15-20 years ago.
On the contrary, I think people are irrational. It's quite obvious that you should pay for better service, but lots of people don't- they love that sense of getting a bargain.
Pandemic changed a lot of cultural norms. Even though the cause of the change was temporary, culture doesn’t necessarily snap back with the same speed.
This, exactly. The same thing has happened to customer service generally. Service quality plummeted in many industries during the pandemic for legitimate reasons, but even as those reasons have dissipated, the quality of service has remained abysmal.
(also, I'd appreciate it if all those darn kids would get off my lawn)
Better behaved customers wouldn't hurt. Surly service workers exist, and my back-of-the-envelope calculation...
...reveals that they're approximately half the problem.
The customer may always be right but he doesn't have to be a dick about it.
I haven't really noticed this where I live (DC area), If anything, servers at restaurants are bending over to be nice and helpful, despite often being short staffed and poorly trained. I'll cut them some slack for the occasional faux pas.
Yeah, my theory is that the combination of the pandemic and Trump convinced a lot of assholes that they don't need to hide their true selves any more. I see it on the roads -- over the top aggressive and dangerous driving is much less rare than it was before the pandemic.
unruly passenger: AITA? IATA!!
I’m going to guess that it has something to do with the large number of delays and cancellations. Those things lead to a lot of stress which, along with the things mentioned in wvmc12’s comment set some people beyond their boiling point.
Flights have always been delayed.
Better behaved customers wouldn't hurt. Surly service workers exist, and my back-of-the-envelope calculation...
...reveals that they're approximately half the problem.
The customer may always be right but he doesn't have to be a dick about it.
Oops. Open tab fail.
Stressed monkeys throw their poo.
Because --what else has happened during this time period?
There's a certain population who now think having an anger management disorder, a super thin skin and zero regard for anyone else is the essence of hip and superior behavior.
sooo...you've been to a school board meeting recently....
😉
If my short daily commute is any indication, drivers have gotten a lot more pissy post pandemic, too.
But aside from an inherently stressful few years, which is going to take some time to recover from, we also had half the country being told that they should be angry (because masks, because vaccines, because your basic freedoms have been taken away ...), and the other half of the country getting angry because they were thinking "there's a f@#$ing pandemic going on, why are you acting like it's a joke and getting hung up on masks of all things?"
I think sociologists will be studying the effects of this for years and years to come.
Shove too many rats in cramped small cages and of course they go for each other....oops, I meant to day people in planes
And here's a plan to make it even more insanely worse
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/06/why-youll-never-fly-in-an-airplane-with-those-double-decker-seats/
Anyone who has flown on a commercial airline recently knows how much the experience absolutely sucks. Boarding and exiting are excruciating, because the airlines' charge for checked bags mean that everyone is schlepping huge carry-ons. Maybe there is some food available, but truly expensive if it is. The cost of alcoholic beverages has basically doubled. I'm generally a very calm person, but I have my full crankiness turned on the whole time I'm on the plane.
You aren't allowed to schlep huge carry-ons. You are usually allowed one carry on that fits into the bin, plus a small personal item that can fit under the seat.
Honestly, the food situation is a lot better for the average traveler. While they no longer serve the bad TV dinners in coach, you can buy much better food at the airports than you could 30 years ago.
And alcohol, if anything, makes travelers ruder, not less rude.
I've taken a number of overseas air trips lately, and the planes are crowded. What used to be economy is now meted out at several levels of discomfort. And nearly everyone carries their bag on board. The food is late and generally pretty awful. And there seem to be fewer attendants.
I put myself in "just tolerate the misery until arrival" mode. Also have taken to adding extra rest time the day before and the day after flying. Still it is a miserable experience.
And including time to get to airport, and TSA, etc. It's at least 4 hours of torture BEFORE you even get on the plane.
The airlines have abandoned any appearance of customer service.
Previous comments have noted bad service from the airlines, cramped space, and changing cultural norms caused by the pandemic. I agree, and I would add this:
Among people who follow politics closely--whatever percentage of Americans that might be--we are at the point now where the vast majority of people who do so are in one camp or the other, and earnestly believe that the people in the other camp are mentally-defective assholes. When you walk around thinking that 50% of the people around you are mentally-defective assholes, you are predisposed to treating people badly.