Can anyone tell me how many incidents of Air Rage take place in First or Business Class please apart from the occassional attention seeking VIP?
IMHO it is the airlines themselve that have created the air rage problem in the way they treat passengers - particularly those at the Bread and Butter end of the cabin (i.e. Economy Class)
You cram us into the minimum seat pitch you can get away with and sitting on seats that provide little comfort on long haul flights. You fool around with the air supply in order to save a few pennies. You discourage us from getting up and moving around in order to stretch our cramped muscles. Many airlines force passengers to shut the window blinds even on day flights so we are reduced to sitting in a hot, airless, darkened tube cheek by jowel with our fellow man for hours on end.
Here's an idea! Increase the seat pitch to 40 inches and design a better shaped seat so that people can really relax and get some sleep. And, above all, stop all free beverages. If passengers have to pay for drinks then most of them will drink less. The additional revenue generated can help to pay for the added seat pitch and more comfortable seats.
I agree with what has been said about the time spent hanging around the terminals waiting to board. Passengers are made to arrive far too early now because of the insane security measures that are in place and the drongo's who apply them. The airlines would be better off sorting that problem out and applying pressure to the airport operators to speed up the whole process so that check-in to boarding takes just one hour as it used to.
Many passengers are afraid of flying and apprehensive of the discomfort they know they face particularly on long haul flights. A friend of mine used to get so wound up prior to boarding that she would hit the bar and down as much vodka as she could in whatever time was available between check-in and boarding. Then, mercifully, she would pass out for the duration of the flight.
It's really up to the airlines to sort this problem out and appointing some bloke to write endless reports on what happened after the event rather than applying some real thought to improving the average passengers lot is not going to do that.