Airlines report steep rise in disorderly passengers

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) published a report late Wednesday claiming soaring numbers of unruly passengers disrupting flights across the globe. The trade association recorded nearly 11,000 incidents of plane rage in 2015, a 17 percent increase from the previous year.

Episodes ranged from verbal abuse of cabin crew to Southwest Airlines being forced to make an emergency landing after a man started a fight with the woman in front of him when she reclined her seat.

Industry experts put the cost of having to divert a long-distance flight to eject an uncooperative passenger at around $200,000.

"The kind of behaviors that ... might be acceptable on the ground take on a completely different complexion when you're in the air," said Tom Colehan, assistant director of government and industry affairs for IATA.

"I don't think anybody knows exactly the reason driving the rise," Colehan added. "Perhaps it's just reflective of societal changes where anti-social behavior is more prevalent and perhaps more accepted."

He suggested that "frustrations" with increasingly long security lines or flight delays could explain some of incidents.

Intoxicated passengers account for nearly a quarter of incidents

The report also concluded that alcohol or drug use was a factor in at least 23 percent of the cases. Airlines have called on airport bars and restaurants to deal with unruly patrons before they make their way to the departure gate.

But consumer advocates have suggested another cause for the sharp increase in flight disruptions from passengers: Airlines implementing cost-cutting measures at the expense of customer comfort, such as trying to cram as many people as possible onto each journey.

In some cases, the distance between seats on commercial aircraft has shrunk by as much as four inches over the past few years.

"The fact that they sell alcohol at airports or on planes hasn't changed," said Charlie Leocha, chairman of Travelers United, an advocacy group. "The only variable that has changed is that they are squeezing more people on to planes than ever before."

As a preventive measure, IATA is urging countries to adopt a 2014 treaty that allows authorities to arrest unruly passengers at a plane's destination and not just in the country where the airline is registered.

es/kl (AP, Reuters)