passenger incidents
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passenger incidents
This question might be mostly for cabin crew, but open to anyone with thoughts on it. I’m looking for some off the record data. It seems, from what I am seeing, that issues with passengers that have been in the news lately are almost exclusively U.S., with a little in Europe and virtually nothing in Asia. Would that be somewhat accurate?
Maybe, as other folks are more compliant to government mandates etc..Americans tend to be more questioning or rebellious. As far as incidents, About 99% of them stem from Mask wearing or lack of mask wearing and a Karen Mentality.
Really ??
Son of Slot
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I'm not sure that it is women so much - as we only see what gets onto social media or the news proper. However, I would agree with the American bias probably because: They have so many more internal flights than other countries and there is an uninhibited attitude to posting things online.
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As for incidents at my base at my airline (which is with limited scope naturally), we have more problems on 1 or 2 routes than others, and most issues I've personally seen on the others have been largely limited to 3-4 nationalities most of the time, of which Americans has been one of them, probably proportionally more so than many others.
We make it clear at time of booking, in an e-mail before the flight and also on board that masks are required, so as a Captain, I have a moral obligation to back my crew and enforce company/government policy regarding this.
Domestic air travel in the US is nearly back to pre-pandemic levels (and, as noted above, the US is so large that there is a lot of domestic air travel). So it's to be somewhat expected that there will be more issues here.
There also needs to be a bit more 'give and take' with regard to the masking rules. I was on a flight several months ago where I was reprimanded by a flight attendant for not getting my mask back on fast enough after taking a drink of my beer which was quite irritating and I felt excessive given I was just about to take another drink...
There also needs to be a bit more 'give and take' with regard to the masking rules. I was on a flight several months ago where I was reprimanded by a flight attendant for not getting my mask back on fast enough after taking a drink of my beer which was quite irritating and I felt excessive given I was just about to take another drink...
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US domestic passengers 2019 840 mil 2020 320 mil 2021 580 mil
US domestic air travel not yet back to 2019 levels but may get there in 2022
"Air travel continues to recover from the pandemic. In 2021, almost 580mn people passed through US airport security checkpoints, according to a Financial Times analysis of Transportation Security Administration data. That is still down from more than 840mn checks in 2019, before the pandemic, but represents an 80 per cent increase from about 320mn in 2020 when state and city lockdowns and the absence of Covid vaccines prompted people to avoid air travel." (taken from 7 Feb 2022 Financial Times article "US budget airline Frontier to buy rival Spirit for $6.6bn)
"Air travel continues to recover from the pandemic. In 2021, almost 580mn people passed through US airport security checkpoints, according to a Financial Times analysis of Transportation Security Administration data. That is still down from more than 840mn checks in 2019, before the pandemic, but represents an 80 per cent increase from about 320mn in 2020 when state and city lockdowns and the absence of Covid vaccines prompted people to avoid air travel." (taken from 7 Feb 2022 Financial Times article "US budget airline Frontier to buy rival Spirit for $6.6bn)
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Well, I am a SLF, and let me tell you my experience.
I fly quite a lot, yet mostly in Europe. And I am quite used to travelling during the pandemic. Yet recently I have experienced something extraordinary on Air Canada (FRA-YYZ), which made it the worst inflight service of my life (I have flown about 130 airlines in total).
The flight attendants, who happened to be aged ladies, were making the passengers feel like schoolchildren. Not only did they insist on passengers wearing masks all the time (which is right), but they were constantly talking by hands, raising voice and pointing fingers to those who did not wear them properly. After they sometimes used the phrases such as “lovely, darling”, etc., which sounded even more humiliating, at least to my ears.
When the service time came and the meals were served, after a couple of minutes the lady came with drinks. After asking what I would like to drink, she did not accept any reply insisting that I should wear a mask despite my eating, as there is supposedly a rule that every time when talking to a flight attendant one must wear a mask! After I started searching for my mask, she did not wait and said, “Ok, I won’t serve you”. And went down the galley! She never came back, disregarding the pressed call button.
After she came back to pick up the cutlery, I told her openly that her behaviour was very impolite, and I never experienced this before. She then started shouting and asking whether I wanted to speak to the captain - which was supposed to threaten me. I had to ask her to stop shouting. She did not say anything in return.
What I want to suggest is that this may really be a cultural thing. We do have strict Covid rules everywhere - yet anywhere else in the world except North America (and perhaps China?) passengers are treated like humans. Meanwhile, there is something in the US/ Canada that makes you feel a miserable part of the system and a slave to legal regulations. Which provokes unnecessary conflicts and in this way increases the “unruly passenger” statistic.
I may be wrong - but that’s my experience.
I fly quite a lot, yet mostly in Europe. And I am quite used to travelling during the pandemic. Yet recently I have experienced something extraordinary on Air Canada (FRA-YYZ), which made it the worst inflight service of my life (I have flown about 130 airlines in total).
The flight attendants, who happened to be aged ladies, were making the passengers feel like schoolchildren. Not only did they insist on passengers wearing masks all the time (which is right), but they were constantly talking by hands, raising voice and pointing fingers to those who did not wear them properly. After they sometimes used the phrases such as “lovely, darling”, etc., which sounded even more humiliating, at least to my ears.
When the service time came and the meals were served, after a couple of minutes the lady came with drinks. After asking what I would like to drink, she did not accept any reply insisting that I should wear a mask despite my eating, as there is supposedly a rule that every time when talking to a flight attendant one must wear a mask! After I started searching for my mask, she did not wait and said, “Ok, I won’t serve you”. And went down the galley! She never came back, disregarding the pressed call button.
After she came back to pick up the cutlery, I told her openly that her behaviour was very impolite, and I never experienced this before. She then started shouting and asking whether I wanted to speak to the captain - which was supposed to threaten me. I had to ask her to stop shouting. She did not say anything in return.
What I want to suggest is that this may really be a cultural thing. We do have strict Covid rules everywhere - yet anywhere else in the world except North America (and perhaps China?) passengers are treated like humans. Meanwhile, there is something in the US/ Canada that makes you feel a miserable part of the system and a slave to legal regulations. Which provokes unnecessary conflicts and in this way increases the “unruly passenger” statistic.
I may be wrong - but that’s my experience.
The vast majority of F/As are exceptionally professional and excellent. As in many similar industries they have to deal with their fair share of awkward, argumentative and drunk passengers. There are however some overzealous types who seem to enjoy unnecessarily flexing their muscles and invite confrontation where none is needed. If a passenger on the receiving end of such then responds (in a calm and polite manner) by making a valid point, these unprofessional F/As will invent a trumped up charge and threaten such pax with the Captain or the police on arrival. I have been flying regularly more than 60 years and, to be fair, only witnessed this a few times, once with myself on the receiving end. (it was sorted out quite amicably with the Senior Purser). All of these (few) incidents occurred in the past 20 years or so. Sign of the times?
