Flight Rage, is it a New Phenomenon?
We have all seen the news stories of recent rage and violence on flights. We’ve seen customers fighting with customers & flight attendants, and attendants fighting with customers. Some of the commentary makes it appear as though this is a new phenomenon. Is it caused by airlines offering tighter seating and less leg space, thus creating a hostile environment? Is it unfriendly flight attendants with control issues and an authority complex stemming from powers granted to them after the 911 terror attacks? Have the airlines simply adopted a cattle transport approach to customer service, or is it excessive alcohol being served causing intoxication and unruliness? All of these probably play into the problem. Go to VoyageMonkey.com Travel for the best flights, hotel accommodations, and car rentals.
As a frequent flier, none of this is new to me; it has gone on for a long time and is nothing new. Years ago I saw a coach passenger be arrested upon landing for disobeying the flight attendant and using the first class rest room. The attendant locked him in the restroom until a flight marshal was called to take him to his seat and hold him there until airport police could remove him from the flight. I believe technology advances have allowed us to capture these events more easily and provided us with a broadcasting forum. We were all simply unaware of past flight rage events as they were not captured on video and broadcasted. The airlines kept them quiet.
Cell phone makers have all upgraded their video capabilities and made it super simple to quickly begin filming an event as it unfolds. We all carry these devises now. Once the video is captured we all have the easy capability of wirelessly downloading the event to multiple social media sources. Actual news agencies and television broadcasting networks monitor the internet social media sites for news stories that are trending and getting views. In turn, these stories end up on prime time news and a story is created around it with commentary and opinions.
Less face it, airlines are actually serving less alcohol on flights today than in the past. I remember a day when really intoxicated people were allowed to board flights. The good news for all of us is that this has been a wakeup call for the airlines. They are afraid of the power of the customer through social media. The airlines are revamping some of their policies and training programs to prevent some of these events from occurring in the future. I have noticed much more customer friendly flight attendants on some recent flights. Will flight rage continue? Probably, but let’s hope we see better treatment of the customer by the airlines. The customer now has a powerful friend.
If you need travel reservations for convenient flights and hotel accommodations to any destination, visit VoyageMonkey.com Travel, or call us at 650-368-6192. You can book online or call our travel consultants who can assist you in planning your getaway.