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Raging Skies
Err Travel · November 23, 1999

No other Err Travel columns have brought anywhere near the number of emails than have the three columns on air rage. Most striking, however, was the tone of the missives: The airlines deserve it.

Here's a sample collection (edited in length but not in substance):

Air rage is a simple cause and effect phenom. The cause is the remarkable ineptitude of the airline industry. The way to correct the situation is to improve the service. I can't believe you have been on a plane lately.

-- Waiting for my bags in Saint Louis

Dear Waiting, I have been on a plane lately. Recently I was on a plane that got me and 86 other passengers safely to our chosen destination in a few hours at a reasonable cost. Sure, I've been on miserable flights, but those are still the exceptions.

Your focus is on these "whacks," but shouldn't we be looking to the airlines to prevent air rage? I see it all of the time: flights that are late, flights that sit on the runway awaiting clearance, people arriving at the gate well before scheduled departure only to find the plane already gone. I am not surprised at all that there are people who lose control. It is a lot more of the airlines' responsibility than you have allowed.

-- JulieSDF

Dear Julie, Let me see if I've got this right: Hold the airlines responsible for the actions of their passengers? You may be on to something. Earlier this year, a Montreal businessman won a C$32,000 judgment against KLM claiming that the airline failed to protect him from an onboard drunk who punched him out. I'm sure the lawyers love this. First the Twinkie defense. Then the Crocodile Dundee defense. What now? The KLM defense?

I am a frequent flyer. I have felt angry enough to slap a flight attendant myself. Is it possible some of the flight attendants cause some of the rage?

-- LDYBLUH20

Dear BLUH, I've locked horns with a few rude and incompetent airline employees. I would have liked to see them humiliated, demoted, maybe even lose their jobs. But I didn't take to throttling them. I suggest you, Waiting, and Julie search inside yourselves, not airport terminals or airplane fuselages, for the sources of your anger.

Note to lawyers: Add "flight attendant defense" to your list.

Airline personnel are NOT trained nor qualified to assess the mental stability of a passenger. What exactly constitutes "rage," and in whose opinion? I seriously doubt the real numbers of these types of cases warrant that a padded cell be placed on board the world's airfleets. I imagine that on a daily basis the average fast food employee encounters more enraged customers than does an airline employee over the length of an entire career.

-- Roidy

Dear Roidy, You don't need a degree in psychology to know that a passenger who is threatening to crash a plane, or is slugging it out with a flight attendant, or is peeing on the seats is a problem. As to your other point, I can't argue with you about the number of enraged fast food customers versus unruly passengers. But what's important here are the possible consequences. An irate customer who barges into a Burger King manager's office may shut down Whopper production for a few hours. On the other hand, an out-of-control passenger who gains access to a 747 cockpit can splatter 400 people against a mountainside.

Not everyone who wrote to me thought that the airlines were agents provocateurs. I also heard from ticked-off travelers who put the blame where it belongs -- on the bozos who go ballistic. I'll give those opinions an airing next week.

If you're ticked off about travel safety or security issues, email me at riley@appliedpsychology.com. Be sure to include your name and home town. Your comments may be edited, condensed, and/or republished at the discretion of Ticked.com.

Dr. Terry Riley is a psychologist and travel security authority. His column appears on Wednesdays. He is author of the popular book Travel Can Be Murder. Visit his site at http://www.appliedpsychology.com or e-mail him at riley@appliedpsychology.com.