From op-ed page, WSJ (7/5/00)-

"I think a group of concerned travelers should approach the airlines and just surrender. It's useless for the consumer to fight Big Air. They have the planes, they have the destinations, and they appear to have the FAA in their pockets. As a peace offering, I'll reveal how they (airlines) can squeeze even more of us on board. I suggest they rip out all the seats. They can install hooks on the ceiling. And if that isn't enough, I have another thought: When you're boarding a plane, the attendant who takes your ticket can also jab you in the buttocks with a sedative shot. This should knock you out for the duration of the flight."

-Jerry Della Femina

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Surrender? NEVER!

And then I heard today that flight attendants were handing out pamphlets yesterday urging congress to pass "air-rage" legislation. Not that I condone anyone having "air-rage" but why would they hand this out to the passengers who get treated like crap? Why not target the airline management and the FAA. If they improved conditions, people would not get air rage. That's like me sending out pamphlets to my customers at work asking them to urge congress to pass legislation because they get nasty on the phone with us even though it is my company's fault for not having the proper training or staff in place. Again, I am not condoning anyone being belligerent with a flight attendant, that should be taken seriously. I just think they are preaching to the choir.

None of us like air rage, but then the airlines are USUALLY the cause of it. I read today about the pamphlets being hadned out. Also noted wat that a good deal of rage comes from drunk customers. So, why have booze on board, could it be the airlines wants to make some more money. Who can blame them, but hey, the airlines are the cause of air rage, seldom would the passanger snap if he or she was treated like a person vs. a number.

[This message has been edited by Warrenlm (edited 07-07-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Warrenlm (edited 07-07-2000).]

Look, I totally disapprove of air rage and I think those convicted of same should be sentenced to a lifetime of Amtrak. But the airlines have ABSOLUTELY exacerbated the air rage problem by putting ordinary people in extraordinarily stressful conditions.

Ask any psychologist, or wartime torturer. To break people down, you:

** Imprison them in a very small physical area.

** Forbid them to move.

** Encroach upon their personal space.

** Lie or misinform them about what is going to happen to them, or else withhold all such information.

** Change "rules" arbitrarily and without apparent rationale; refuse to explain why.

** Meet complaints with pre-emptive anger and unreason; make people feel their predicament is their own fault.

I took a psych course or two back in college, and we learned that there's no surer way to induce clinical anxiety, depression, or -- possibly -- unpredictable violent behavior than to deprive subjects of (real or imagined) control over their fate, withhold information, violate their physical space, and change the "rules" of their environment arbitrarily and without warning. That's a standing definition of Economy class travel today.

Exactly!!

just curious, does anyone know what percentage of air rage happened in First Class and Coach?
and was it mostly caused by alcohol intoxication?

Pax in long haul First just curl up under their doonas in their sleeper beds after their lobster and few Martell cognacs and doze blissfully off!

Seriously, the airlines are now saying pax taking on duty free booze on It'l is the main contributor. Also banning smoking has made it bad.

Australia is one of 3 countries in the world where if you mess with staff in the air the Feds meet you at the other end, and that is not nice. They don't care WHERE you boarded or WHAT carrier you are on or what class you are flying. Heavy duty penalities, and air rage here has DECREASED I read due to this no nonsense enforcement. Amen to that!

Belle brings up a good question: what is most often the cause? Alcohol, very often. I don't dispute this.This is "AIR rage." But there's another type of rage. I call it "AIRLINE rage." Sometimes it happens in the air, sometimes it happens on the ground.

Some thoughts/observations:

I have a strong impression that AIRLINE rage is when people are at the suffering end of a major airine foulup with tickets/reservations/accommodation/seating, etc., with often multiple compounding snafus by the airline which leave even the best flyer exacerbated and then suddenly he/she encounters the it-was-your-fault agent, or the parochial dolt response: rage. (I am excepting the situations where its the passengers fault, and it certainly can be, as many agents can tell you).

As someone pointed to above, certainly sometimes being human correlates with such behavior. I have read many stories, even here, from seasoned travelers, with whom I empathize, and yes I wanted to break the agent's neck as well--albeit figuratively (no, I don't have a past history of abuse/violence). How often is this sort of thing a factor in air rage? What is it that makes people rage? I am going out on a limb here, but it surmise that it's often the airline and its personnel who exacerbate the situation.

It would be interesting to survey whether many of the air rage cases correlate with personnel who don't address/handle a situation/passenger well. Again, I'm not saying it's the top factor, but wonder how often? Experiences/observations? I usually find that passengers don't suddenly flip out by themselves, all alone, and start screaming; it's usually when engaged with airline personnel.

I'm all for protecting flight personnel in the skies. BUT, for example, I am sick and tired of the poorly trained ground personnel who threaten to call security when a passenger is really getting screwed over and persists about a situation, albeit in a composed manner. There have been stories about this on flyertalk. Or perhaps you've encountered the FA who threatens to call the police at not even the slightest provocation. Have you seen this happen all too frequently?

Thus, protect people in the air, okay, but I am leery of giving any broad license, or anything that might lead towards this. I'm being a bit vague here....Anyway, yes, let's protect personnel against AIR rage but I'm inclinded to give passenger's more rights so that we can avoid AIRLINE rage. I've seen much more of the latter.

Jeff, that's a very apt and valuable distinction. I agree that poor customer service personnel issuing disinformation or ad hominem attacks on customers are at the root cause of more "AIRLINE" rage than the carriers' employee unions might care to admit.

As for booze-related "AIR" rage: this is only from anecdotal observation, but I think inexperienced or unattentive air crews overserve passengers more often than THEY would care to admit. On a CO transcon last year I listened with growing alarm as a young, flirty FA kept the double vodkas coming to a trio of noisy, profane, aggressive young men in the row behind me. Finally, after the sixth or seventh round, I followed her back to the galley and told her quietly the three guys were swearing loudly and making the trip miserable for their seatmates, and her regular doses of vodka were only making things worse. Well, surprise: the FA thought the three Italian Stallions were cuter than me, got the guys another round, and TOLD THEM I HAD COMPLAINED ABOUT THEM. I spent the last hour of the flight listening to them threaten to beat me up.

(I did write to CO Customer Care with full details and got back some upgrade coupons and assurance that while union rules prevented revealing just what had been done, action had been taken.)

That flight attendant was an idiot whose refusal to do her job could've led to an inflight fistfight. I don't think she was terribly unusual, either. It's interesting to note that the latest air rage case was aboard another Continental flight, ANC-SEA, and the perpetrator was boarded even though fellow passengers testified she "reeked" of alcohol from the get-go.

Air rage...too many nuts left out side their shells!!!

Poor service, underinformed passengers do not punch FA, pee on the floor, etc because of this. Only unbalanced or hostile people do this.

Drunks. Sure a number of cases involve booze. Usually started well before the plane arrives at the gate before loading the plane some passengers load their body. Abuse of booze is not a excuse for bad behavior.

I agree with some here, that sever penalties should be imposed. Passengers who refuse (recent thread) to obey FA instructions should be escorted off the plane and subsequently forced to undergo a review by a independent board before a decision be made if that person must be allowed to ever board a flight run by that airline.

Abusive people just are bad news. Wife beaters, they often drink. They often are mentally unbalanced, but I assure you they can come up with some excuse for their behavior. Same with drunk drivers. I am against banning alcohol, but I am very much in favor of sever punishment for abusers!

Just my opioion.

If you can't say anything nice, don't .....

[This message has been edited by Warrenlm (edited 07-08-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Warrenlm (edited 07-08-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Warrenlm (edited 07-08-2000).]