"Airlines tolerate air rage"

Wednesday, March 21, 2001

Airlines tolerate air rage
USA Today


When an air traveler allegedly attacked a Continental gate agent at Newark
International in July 1999, breaking the agent's neck, the incident ignited
a flurry of passenger complaints about air rage.

Almost two years later, with the case now before a New Jersey criminal jury,
the same complaints are resurfacing. What have airlines done to protect the
public from the complex problem of raging passengers? Their answers are far
from reassuring.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in January that air-rage
incidents declined — from 310 reported in 1999 to 266 last year. But
flight-attendant and pilot unions add a troubling caveat: The reports
capture only a fraction of what's really happening on flights because only
the most serious incidents are reported.

And while the airlines may talk a tough game, few are taking concrete steps
to end this danger.

Flight attendants, who are on the front lines, often receive little training
in defusing unruly passengers, according to a survey last year by the
Association of Flight Attendants (AFA). Attendants at five of 17 airlines
responding said their carriers had no policy on air rage. Attendants at only
three said there was adequate training to deal with air rage.

No surprise then that some disruptive passengers simply walk away when a
flight lands, though interfering with a crewmember is a federal offense.
Reports to the FAA in 1999 show two incidents in which unruly passengers —
one cornered a flight attendant and swore at her — were not detained. Last
December, according to the Air Line Pilots Association, a pilot called from
the air for security to meet a disruptive passenger at the San Francisco
Airport. Instead, the airline sent a customer-service representative.

Meanwhile, some airlines have provided plastic handcuffs to crewmembers, and
one has produced a video on using them. So much for the zero tolerance this
problem requires.

Even legislative action has failed to pay off. Congress passed a law last
year allowing the Justice Department to deputize local police so they could
make arrests for this federal crime. But the law has not been implemented,
flight attendants say.

Clearly more needs to be done, both to spot problems and effectively prevent
them.

It will take a jury to determine precisely who was at fault when an air
traveler lost control at Newark. But this much is clear: Air rage won't end
until all passengers know it won't be tolerated.

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