According to the Cambridge Dictionary, air rage is defined as the violent behavior in flight from an aircraft passenger. As of September 28, 2021, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has received 4,498 unruly passenger reports which is a significant increase from previous years. Expanding on the severity of this situation, from 2015 to 2020 the FAA initiated 786 air rage investigations. On this year alone, 2021, the FAA has initiated 808 air rage investigations. The following chart shows the number of reports so far this year in comparison to last year’s weekly rate:
(Source: https://www.faa.gov/data_research/passengers_cargo/unruly_passengers/)
Air rage is a significant threat to aviation because unruly passengers are just not complying with federal regulations, but they are getting physical with cabin crews. For example, on May 23rd, a Southwest Airlines flight attendant was punched in the face by an unruly passenger causing her to lose two teeth and other injuries to her face. To cope with the rising amount of air rage cases, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has restarted a self-defense course for airline crews that was previously suspended during the pandemic. This course prepares airline crews to defend themselves against violent passengers. Also, the TSA is doubling fines for those passengers that refuse to comply with federal regulations and can add unruly passengers to No-Fly lists. No-Fly lists are enforced nationwide by the TSA through its Secure Flight program. This measure prevents unruly passengers that been put in No-Fly lists to board any commercial aircraft. Currently, there are proposals to include airline No-Fly lists to TSA’s No Fly lists.
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