Urinating on planes, starting brawls: Are Indian flyers suffering from air rage?

It is quite common these days to hear of unruly passengers creating ruckus on flights. In one such incident, a drunk man urinated on a female co-passenger onboard an Air India flight from New York to Delhi last November.

The incident which came to light a few days back has created furore online.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has sought a report from Air India in connection with the incident. “We are seeking a report from the airline and shall take action against those found negligent,” DGCA chief Arun Kumar told Indian Express.

This adds to a series of air rage incidents by Indian passengers recently seen on flights.

What is air rage and what are the reasons behind such behaviour? How such incidents are increasing in India and what can be done? We explain.

What is air rage

Cambridge Dictionary defines air rage as a “sudden angry and violent behaviour by a passenger on an aircraft during a flight”.

An article in ScienceDirect notes that air rage can threaten the safety of flight crew and passengers.

This behaviour can be triggered by several factors such as nervousness before or during flying, consuming alcohol, or even pandemic fatigue.

As per ScienceDirect, the first case of air rage was recorded in 1947 when a drunk male passenger on a flight from Havana to Miami assaulted another passenger and a flight attendant.

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Urinating incidents

On 26 November 2022, the drunk man allegedly unzipped and urinated on a co-passenger in her 70s in business class of the Air India flight, as per NDTV.

While the woman flagged the incident to the crew, she was reportedly asked to return to the soiled seat after being provided with a set of pyjamas and slippers.

She was reportedly given a crew seat when she refused to go back to her seat.

The man allegedly left without facing any action when the flight landed in Delhi.

Describing the “most traumatic flight I have ever experienced”, the woman wrote to group chairman of Air India, N Chandrasekaran, relaying her ordeal and expressing disappointment at the airline’s handling of the incident, NDTV reported.

Responding to the incident, Air India on Wednesday (4 January) said it has lodged a police complaint against the man and also imposed a 30-day flying ban on him.

The airlines further said an internal inquiry has been launched to find out if there were lapses on their crew’s part in addressing “deficiencies that delayed quick redressal of the situation”.

Delhi Police has registered a case under sections 294 (does any obscene act in any public place), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and 510 (misconduct in public by a drunken person) of the Indian Penal Code and other relevant section of Aircraft rule, PTI reported.

Mocking Air India’s mere 30-day ban, stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra wrote on Twitter “2 Air India’s" and shared a screenshot of the airline previously banning him for alleged misbehaviour onboard an IndiGo flight.

2 Air India’s pic.twitter.com/g4t2SvaJ35

— Kunal Kamra (@kunalkamra88) January 4, 2023

In another similar incident, a “drunk” male passenger allegedly urinated on a blanket of a female passenger on the Paris-Delhi Air India flight on 6 December last year, as per news agency PTI.

Airport officials told the news agency that the plane landed around 9:40 am in Delhi and the airport security was informed that the male flyer was “under the influence of alcohol and he was not following the instructions of the cabin crew and he later peed on a blanket of an onboard lady passenger”.

Violence on Thai Air Bangkok flight

A fight broke out mid-air on the Thai Airways Bangkok-India flight last December. The video of the incident widely shared on social media showed two male passengers in a heated argument which eventually lead to both of them hitting each other.

“Haath neeche rakh (put your hand down)”, one of the passengers could be heard shouting as he hit the fellow flyer, thus triggering fisticuffs.

The brawl ensued as the crew helplessly looked on and tried to calm down the flying tempers.

#AirRage

Video of a fight between pax that broke out on @ThaiSmileAirway flight

Reportedly on a Bangkok-India flight of Dec 27 pic.twitter.com/qyGJdaWXxC

— Saurabh Sinha (@27saurabhsinha) December 28, 2022

The scuffle apparently broke out as the Indian passenger on the Bangkok-Kolkata flight refused to straighten his reclined seat before take-off.

Times of India reported on 30 December that the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has decided to start a suo motu probe and register a case with the airport police station in Kolkata.

Union aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia also reacted to the incident, calling it “unacceptable”.

‘Not your servant’

A similar incident was seen last year on an IndiGo flight from Istanbul to Delhi where a war of words ensued between a flight attendant and a passenger reportedly over food choice.

The flight attendant can be heard telling the male passengers that because of his “finger-pointing” behaviour, her crew is “crying”.

Tempers soaring even mid-air: "I am not your servant"

An @IndiGo6E crew and a passenger on an Istanbul flight to Delhi (a route which is being expanded soon with bigger planes in alliance with @TurkishAirlines ) on 16th December : pic.twitter.com/ZgaYcJ7vGv

— Tarun Shukla (@shukla_tarun) December 21, 2022

“I am an employee, I am not your servant,” she can be heard telling the passenger later.

As per Mint, DGCA launched a probe into the incident, while IndiGo is also investigating.

How to deal with air rage menace?

It is not just Indian passengers but flyers around the world who are indulging more and more in bad behaviour.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), 5,700 reports of air rage on US airlines were seen in 2021, as compared to 100 to 150 annual cases before the pandemic.

Out of these new cases, 72 per cent were related to mask disputes.

Alcohol is another reason for air rage which has prompted some airlines to restrict the sale of liquor on board.

To deal with the menace of abusive passengers, FAA has launched a zero-tolerance policy, proposing fines of up to $37,000 per violation, CNBC reported.

Australia’s airlines also impose fines of up to $11,100 on anyone who assaults a passenger, or crew member, or disrupts flights.

The downside of the aviation boom, as per aviation experts, is unruly flyers.

While some blame first-time flyers for lacking flying etiquette and creating chaos on board, some sociologists believe passengers from financially well-off backgrounds are the “real culprits”.

“They have the resources, but lack manners. It’s like booking an Ola or Uber and treating the driver as personal servant,” Ranjana Kumari, director of the Centre for Social Research in Delhi, told Economic Times in 2018.

As per Forbes, violence has become common everywhere and the same behaviour is being reflected on flights.

So, is there no solution to air rage?

Some experts say airlines can train their staff better when dealing with the air rage menace.

“A proactive and well-trained staff can ensure that such flyers don’t turn into nuisance,” air vice marshal K Sridharan was quoted as saying by ET in 2018.

With inputs from agencies

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