Levels of severity of unruly and disruptive behaviour.

 How significant is the issue?

Statistics from both industry and regulators such as the UK Civil Aviation Authority, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as shown overleaf)) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) point to a long-term trend of increasing frequency and severity of unruly passenger incidents. From this material, it seems clear that this will continue to be an issue that needs to be addressed. IATA IDX - Unruly Passenger Incident Reports – January 2021 to December 2022.

IATA itself has been collecting and analyzing safety reports from member airlines including incidents relating to unruly and disruptive passengers since 2007. The IDX dataset is the only global dataset of unruly passenger incidents that is available. The most recent report from January 2021 to December 2022 has been developed using aggregated and de-identified data from IATA’s IDX program. A total of 20,301 reports were extracted in the period.

The IATA data incident rate per 1,000 flights for the calendar year was 1.2 or 1 incident for every 835 flights. This increased to 1.76 or 1 incident for every 568 flights in 2022. Non-compliance with crew instruction was the most frequent descriptor (0.224 per 1,000 flights in 2021 rising to 0.307 in 2022) as shown below. The number of reports mentioning verbal and physically abusive behaviors also increased in 2022.

 The “action taken” classification means that the reporting airline classified their report with details of any action taken. These actions may sometimes be further classified in the next level into “Warning given”, “police called”, “passenger restrained”, etc. Many the reports only detail the passenger behavior, without adding the actions taken. A single report may fall into multiple classification categories. When analyzing non-compliance in more detail following descriptors were noted in order of frequency of occurrence: 

• Smoking of cigarettes, e-cigarettes, vapes and puff devices in the cabin or lavatories lavatory

• Fasten seat belts 

• Cabin baggage (Exceeding the carry-on baggage allowance or failing to store it when required).

• Consuming own alcohol 

 

Non-compliance with crew instructions that are mandated by national law or regulations can have safety implications – for example, smoking in the lavatory is a dangerous fire hazard while consuming alcohol that is not served onboard and becoming intoxicated, can also have implications for the timely evacuation of the aircraft in an emergency. That said, it is important to note that many of these incidents may have been deescalated to a satisfactory conclusion by the crew using their training but were still reported

Most reported unruly passenger incidents are classified as Level 1 – which usually are verbal in nature and can generally be characterized as anti-social behavior. This would include being non-compliant with face coverings (where required) or failure to wear a seatbelt. Most of these cases can be brought to a satisfactory conclusion by cabin crew using de-escalation techniques and training. That is not to trivialise these incidents, because there is always a danger of incidents escalating, they divert crew attention, and they do impact good order and discipline onboard. 7 Even safer and more enjoyable air travel for all Similarly, where someone is intoxicated, but is not being unruly or disruptive, this is also likely to also be classified as a Level 1 incident. It is important to note that any passenger on board a flight that is intoxicated either through alcohol, narcotics or medication is a safety risk, both to themselves and everyone else on the aircraft. An intoxicated passenger that is not able to follow safety instructions or is incapable of exiting the aircraft in an emergency evacuation is a safety risk. Level 2 and Level 3 incidents are physical in nature and can be very dangerous either to crew or to other passengers. In the case where an unruly passenger assaults a member of the cabin crew, the injury sustained may mean they are unable to perform their primary duties. There is also the safety risk posed when unruly passengers damage or tamper with essential safety equipment on the aircraft. 

Summary: ▪ While still rare, unruly and disruptive passenger incidents are of significant concern to both governments and airlines as incidents have the potential to impact safety of passengers, crew, and the aircraft ▪ There has been a long-term trend of increasing frequency and severity of unruly passenger incidents ▪ While non-compliance with crew instruction has been an issue for many years, failure to wear a face mask during the COVID-19 health emergency has raised government awareness of the problem