China Considers Blacklisting Passengers in Crackdown on Air Rage

Passengers caught causing a disturbance on airplanes may soon be banned from flying in China if the CAAC gets its way.

Could a “bad passenger” blacklist affect travelers in China? The blacklist is one of many ideas being passed around in response to several incidents of passengers misbehaving on commercial Chinese flights.

Yahoo! Travel reports the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) is considering blacklisting troublemaking passengers as one method of quelling bad behavior on commercial aircraft. In the last two months, at least three Chinese flights have been affected by misbehaving passengers, including passengers opening emergency exits, flight attendants being assaulted by unruly passengers and brawls over noisy babies.

Under the blacklist proposal, individuals known to cause trouble on flights would be banned from commercial aircraft in China. In addition, these passengers could face legal ramifications. Proponents of the plan believe that instituting a blacklist system would discourage travelers from behaving poorly on aircraft.

“Based on the rules laid-out by the International Civil Aviation Organization, airlines do have the right to prevent passengers who have disturbed a flight or failed to follow orders from the cabin crew from flying,” Diao Weimin, associate professor at the Civil Aviation Management Institute of China, told CRIEnglish.com. “I think [China] should set up a unified ‘blacklist’ system to root out problem passengers.”

Those opposing the blacklist argue that it is a dire move to address a problem that affects only a small fraction of flights. Travel experts on the Chinese marketplace believe that increases in incidents result from frequent travel delays and an expanding traveling public.

While the blacklist is one option being considered, there is no timetable for a final decision on implementing the measure.

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