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A passenger is seen photographing a British Airways aircraft with his mobile telephone at Heathrow Airport near London - Source: Reuters
Disruptive behaviour on British passenger aircraft rose 30% last
year, with alcohol playing a significant part in what the media has
dubbed air rage.
Of nearly 3,500 significant incidents during the year until March,
44 were classified as serious, official figures showed.
The most common age group involved was the 30-39 years bracket, and
incidents spanned from violence to crew to smoking on board.
Of the 44 reports classed as serious, 29 involved passengers being
restrained and 13 involved aircraft diversions.
"These incidents most commonly involved alcohol as a contributory
factor, followed by conflict with other passengers and illness or
suspected mental instability; there were a number of cases of
threatening behaviour and physical violence," the Department of
Transport said.
Alcohol was involved in 37% of reported incidents.
Men were involved in 73% of incidents, roughly unchanged from the
previous year's data.
Fifty three percent of the incidents involved those travelling
in groups, 33% in a family, 13% alone and one deportee.
But the likelihood of your trip being disrupted is generally
remote, working out at one in 24,000, compared to one in 35,000 the
year before.
