That's an impressive record and unique Piltdown Man.
The latest statistics reported to IATA by its member airlines point to a growing unruly passenger problem. For the period from 2007 to 2015, there were 49,084 reported cases, or one incident per 1,613 flights. But in 2015 alone, there were 10,854 instances of unruly passengers, amounting to one incident per 1,205 flights.
The type of incidents vary significantly, from low-level disobedience of crew instructions to major incidents involving aircraft diversions and passenger deplanement. Some 11% of unruly passenger reports were at level 2, which includes verbal aggression, and around 23% of cases mentioned alcohol as a factor.
And in the US.
The number of incidents involving unruly airline passengers has ballooned in 2017, leading airlines to physically restrain or remove aggressive and often drunken passengers more than ever before.
Bad behavior from passengers is cited as one of the top three safety concerns for crew members, who are increasingly responsible for de-escalating situations before they turn into one of the 444 cases when intoxicated passengers became violent.