Frequent readers of Live and Let’s Fly would be forgiven for thinking this luxury + adventure travel blog has turned into a tabloid covering daily onboard antics of poorly-behaved passengers on commercial flights. But while we go where the news goes, there is no denying we are in a period of protracted misbehavior onboard. Will this all go away once the mask mandate expires? Or is there something deeper going on?
The Root Cause Of Airplane Misconduct
The statistics are clear enough. The Federal Aviation Administration had received 2,900 reports of unruly passenger behavior since January 1, 2021. 2,200 of those were mask-related incidents. That’s 76%.
Between 2010 and 2020, the FAA only investigated a total of 1,548 unruly passenger cases.
So clearly we can quantitatively state there has been a surge in cases in the pandemic era and the majority are tied to masks.
But that doesn’t necessarily explain the root cause.
Sara Nelson, the International President of the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) blames conflicting messages from government leaders.
“There is just this level of confusion that also comes into play…They have been led to believe that the safety steps we are taking are a political decision rather than a public health necessity. That has really been the thing that has lit a match to the kindling that existed before.”
Nelson always brings a degree of partisanship into the discussion and alleges that disturbances are more likely to originate in more Republican-dominated places.
“There tends to be greater incidents where you are flying out of a place where local and state leaders have said that the pandemic is a hoax, that masks are not necessary, all of those things.”
I’ve asked the AFA if they have statistics to back that up, because most of the incidents we have covered lately on Live and Let’s Fly have originated in so-called “blue” states like California.
- Delta Air Lines white helmet incident – Los Angeles
- Delta Air Lines drunk passenger incident – Los Angeles
- American Airlines flight attendant rant – Los Angeles
- Southwest Airlines flight attendant attack – Sacramento
- JetBlue cocaine incident – New York
Nevertheless, I think Nelson is correct that the cause is not the masks themselves, but frustration over the indignity of the travel experience. That includes masks, but also smaller seats, less legroom, lack of service onboard, and full planes. All of that creates an environment that produces the sort of incidents we’ve seen. But when Nelson condemns anti-maskers but in the same breath resists restoring food and drinks onboard, her “solution” only exacerbates the problem.
So while there is never any excuse for misbehavior onboard, including failing to abide by the federal mask mandate, I do think we will see a return to “normalcy” once the federal mask mandate expires and airlines again offer a variety of food and drinks for purchase onboard, including alcohol.
CONCLUSION
Things will get worse before they get better. That’s because planes are packed once again on U.S. domestic flights. Prices are through the roof, open middle seats are gone, and onboard services have to returned. Throw in a fundamental mistrust of government amongst a subset of passengers and a view of masks as muzzles of freedom and we have all the ingredients for a summer of discontent. Plus the usual alcohol and mental health issues.
The good news is that the vast majority of flights are going to be just fine. We tend to forget that when looking at news-grabbing headlines. Yesterday, the TSA screened over 2,000,000 passengers. Yes, over two million in one day alone…compared to a total of 2,900 incidents onboard over the last six months.
So you likely have nothing to worry about anyway. Still, the trend line is not encouraging.
As my parents would say, a lack of home training. Outside of a mental health issue, people make the choice to act a fool especially when they don’t believe there will be any consequences. As a society, we amplify, and at times celebrate, bad behavior. Combine that with exhaustion & frustration from year long lock downs, packed flights and some people conflating following gov’t rules and regulations as infringements on their personal liberties, it’s a hotbox at 35,000 fleet. Flying is a privilege not a right so appreciate the fact we can fly again en masse.
The floggings will continue until morale improves.
We know the cause of all this. We can pretend it isn’t a product of Trumpism, but it is.
The point of origin of a flight doesn’t matter. Donald Trump received more votes in California then he did in any other state, even Texas.
I have heard many theories, some plausible, some really wild.
One theory blames it on institutionalized child care instead of one working and one stay at home parent (usually mother but on rare occasions, the father, and sometimes the grandparents). The theory goes that child care teachers are less caring, sometimes nasty. This breads wild animal children who eventually become animal torturers, rapist, killers, and airline passenger misfits. The reported solution is that society has to realize that children are expensive to raise in terms of parental commitment. However, children are necessarily unless the country starts to import Mexican teens to work for a declining American population with fewer kids.
This is not my opinion but among the most interesting I’ve heard.
Another opinion I’ve heard is that the Russians have successfully infiltrated Facebook and are creating discord in America.
I think there is something to your point about the strange about-face of the airlines that are encouraging you to fly, take vacations to far away places, etc. but then balk about returning services to preCOVID norms despite full flights, their own insistence that flying is safe, and on-and-on. You combine that with the politicalization of every damn thing these days and it is a tinderbox waiting to set folks off.
With that said, I also think there is just more reporting/social media in general capturing all of this these days too.
Yes, it’s the masks.
Sara Nelson and her surly, lazy minions are a good part of the “root cause.”
@Matthew, I’m not seeing the partisanship in the quotes you’ve ascribed to Nelson. My take is that she’s saying that the one problem is discord in messaging about the pandemic and public health among political leaders and health agencies. Now one can interpret that to mean that she’s talking Republican leaders. But she didn’t say that from what I’ve read above and in the linked article. And one can clearly think of cases in which Republican leaders are saying things consistent with what the CDC is saying (.e.g. Mike DeWine). So, I think that you’re kind of putting that partisanship on her.
Moreover, every flight has an origin and a destination. If one were to do the requisite data analysis properly, both origin, destination and per capita population would need to be taken into account. It’s a nuanced question, and I think that care is required. (And, see, you’ve awoken the nerd in me.)
All that said, I do think that your bottom line is correct here. And it’s an interesting question: one certainly worth looking into further. Those numbers you quote regarding trends on complaint volume are really intriguing.
Horrible customer service leads to horrible behavior. It’s not rocket surgery.
Note there has also been an “epidemic” of sorts with respect to bad fan behavior at games (primarily the NBA).
I think it is a combination of the variables you mentioned. Those along with the fact that every flight seems to have about 70% leisure passengers and 30% business travelers. Pre-covid the leisure passengers were more interspersed with the less surly business travelers. It even seems like the leisure passengers now are less experienced travelers than usual and further down the class scale. They seemingly do not know how to behave kindly to their fellow man and everyone seems more entitled. Just yesterday
Witnessed this sad couple berating the Delta help desk employee in Atlanta because their flight was diverted due to poor weather. Totally unreasonable, felt like saying something but too dangerous to pull yourself into an argument with a complete loon. Once business travel resumes, hopefully it will lower the ration of these entitled jerks and the incidents will reduce.
Jerry blames Trumpism, but it was the Democrats who chose the jackass for their party symbol thereby setting the gold standard for misbehavior. Isn’t rioting, looting, and fights on planes behaviors associated with people being jackasses?
@AlohaDaveKennedy A donkey? Come on. I know it’s Saturday, but you can do better than that.
It’s predictable that people will misbehave after watching wild, violent, unruly BLM demonstrations being lauded and celebrated by the media, many local governments, law enforcement agencies, and lock-step support from a political party that controls the White House and Congress. CNN famously justified violent demonstrations. Police commissioners and mayors joined the marches. Burning down court houses, taking over city blocks, and raiding retail districts results in practically no indictments. What sane person will feel compelled to follow rules after that? Yes, some might be scared by imminent punishment, but the notion that observing the rules and behaving well were a moral obligation has been obliterated by our elites. This is just one of the sad results.
“Frequent readers of Live and Let’s Fly would be forgiven for thinking this luxury + adventure travel blog has turned into a tabloid covering daily onboard antics of poorly-behaved passengers on commercial flights.”
Pardon the rant for a second, but please, be honest with your audience. You’ve long cheapened your blog by pushing out frequent, gratuitous, Daily Mail-style clickbait. So if the shoe fits, well…
Anyway, it’s too simplistic to blame the current frazzled state of air travel on one cause. Yes, it’s partially about the masks, or more specifically, the asinine rules surrounding them. The CDC says that, as a vaccinated person, I can eat indoors maskless at a restaurant at full capacity, yet the airlines tell me I have to put mine back on between sips of ginger ale. So yes, there are some who see masks as a political tool, but not for the reasons Sara Nelson insinuates.
It’s also because planes are full again and security lines are insane in places. Witness what’s been going on at AUS the last couple weeks.
It’s because mental health is in a bad state in this country because of lockdown and pandemic fatigue, which is no doubt leading to increased alcohol and drug abuse long before people ever get to the airport.
It’s because of luminaries like Nelson pushing to make hygiene theater and service cuts permanent in the name of “safety”. Never mind that the whole “we’re primarily here for your safety” bit largely ruined the flying experience long before coronavirus was a thing.
And it’s because of morons who get on planes fully intending to flout the rules to provoke a confrontation and make a political statement. (Ok, so maybe it really IS about the masks.)
But this is a tabloid and a PR machine for United.
Oh come now, I can be critical of United and offer more than tabloid headlines (though I don’t deny you might see one per day amongst my 3-4 posts).
Stupid masks!!! Stupid Government!!! Tell everyone that vaccine works but keep mask mandate at airports and planes. If vaccine works why the stupid masks? Oh, wait a minute, maybe the vaccine doesn’t work? Blame the clowns in DC. People were brainwashed to believe on this nonsense that a cloth mask bought at Etsy with the logo of your favorite team will prevent you from being infected by a virus and now after been vaccinated they still force the use of those stupid masks.
masks lead to emotional weakness…/ susceptibility
It’s not just the airlines having issues. I work in the healthcare industry and did not stop traveling last year . Hotels and Rental Car are also affected. You wouldn’t believe how many luxury hotels I have had to move rooms because of the smell of pot in my room. the same for rental cars. The problem is people who have no respect for anything are not afforded the opportunity to travel because of reduced rates and excess money. I can’t wait for business travel to pick back up and leave these folks at home where they belong.
When reading some of the comments here is feels like one troll is writing as more than one person. It’s amazing to me how people can so excited and try to politicize wearing a mask on a flight that is only a few hours. If surgeons can wear it during an operation you can do the same for a few hours you are on a plane. It’s intellectually weak to blame masks for all the issues attributed to it. It’s al about how people choose to behave in public towards others. I’m happy the FAA is dolling out those fines and hope that people choosing to break out in fist fights are also fined accordingly. My goal is to safely get from point A to B and will be courteous and happy to wear a mask while doing so. This is not a big ask. Thank you Matt for writing this blog I enjoy dropping by and reading the posts on this blog.
People are frustrated because they feel their “freedom” is being taken away so they act out. Doesn’t make it right. Jerks. Wait until things get much worse.
@Endlos: You are a brainwashed snowflake. “my goal is to safely get from point A to B and will be courteous and happy to wear a mask while doing so.“ Great, you wear a mask but not expect others to wear one. Why you need a mask inside an airport? That is useless !!
Surgeons chose to do that work so masks are part of their job and they use real masks. We were told by the Government that vaccine works and masks are no longer needed if you are vaccinated so stop this BS. Etsy masks are useless so stop this craziness.
Business travelers don’t have the same experiences as coach. Lounge access, drinks onboard, food onboard, good service onboard. No wonder coach has more problems – there is almost NO service & what little interaction exists, it is most often negative. Hopefully airlines can survive on business travel so all the entitled business travelers can keep to themselves & be happy. Of course in reality, most business travelers are flying on company $ & points/ miles created by company $ so how long is that sustainable?
Welp, there couldn’t possibly be any other reason than Trump, could there? Hey folks, here’s a News flash: Trump isn’t around now. The date stamp for that excuse has expired. I can post photos of unruly incidents on 2021 flights I’ve personally flown. The perps didn’t appear to be Trumpian. I could comment on the demographics (race, etc) of the people involved. but that would not be acceptable on this forum. Suffice it to say the probability is very low that the ones I’ve witnessed were Trump supporters.
ITS ALL ABOUT THE FOOD! IF PROPLE HAVE FULL TUMMY’S THEY ARE HAPPIER PEOPLE!
@MeanMeosh Per current CDC guidelines, eating out with similarly vaccinated friends for an hour or two is OK without a mask (and impractical as actively eating). For an airline flight of several hours in closer proximity to total strangers, a mask is still recommended…. sounds like really sensible advice to me.
The folks who think that they do not need to follow the simple mask rule that they agreed to many times when making the booking, and is basic common sense for their and others health are really sad cases of modern humanity. They should be “shown the door” at 30,000 feet……. problem solved.
@DFWSteve: Liberals are running out of excuses for laziness and bad behavior. Trump and Covid are gone so better start finding a new excuse.
Masks are still required in federal buildings,so until that regulation is lifted, expect to wear a mask at airports. Airlines also require masks, and they tell you this multiple times during the ticket purchase sequence. Additionally, airlines require attestation that you are aware of the mask mandate, and that you will comply with the mandate, and so anyone who gets on a plane and decides “I don’t have to wear a mask” is flat out looking for confrontation. And being an @sshole because of that attitude. Whether you agree with the point of a mask, or whether you are vaccinated or not, today you have to wear a mask, correctly, when you fly. If you don’t want to wear a mask, don’t fly. It’s pretty simple. But the increase in passenger interference cases is staggering, and anyone who threatens, assaults, intimidates, or interferes with the duties of a crew member deserves the civil penalties–fines and imprisonment–that are forthcoming. If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime, so to speak. #FAAFO
It’s not the masks, it’s the people that won’t wear them.