(NewsNation) — Air travel has been a nightmare for many passengers since the pandemic began, but it’s about to get worse. According to recent reports, incidents of bad behavior on flights are on the rise, and this summer is expected to be no different.
The problem seems to be exacerbated by people who have been isolated from social situations for a long time and don’t know how to behave in public anymore.
With the use of smartphones, videos of such incidents are being widely circulated, which in turn has become a positive reinforcement for some people to continue behaving badly.
The consequences of such actions are rarely felt, and accountability is often missing.
Incidents of passengers attacking flight attendants, causing trouble and delaying flights have been reported frequently.
The consequences of these actions lead to hundreds of people being inconvenienced, airlines losing thousands of dollars and flight delays. Yet the people who cause these problems are often allowed to travel on a flight later the same day or the next day.
U.S. Senate and House members proposed a new no-fly list to address this issue, but there are those who are against it.
The legislation would let the Transportation Security Administration ban people convicted of or fined for assaulting or interfering with airline crew members.
People want to protect their rights, but if they are not held accountable and they see others behaving badly with impunity, it desensitizes them to this behavior.
“The violent incidents have not stopped,” said Cher Taylor, a Frontier Airlines flight attendant who said she witnessed one passenger attack another in 2021 in Miami and walk away before police arrived.
Jeff Gardere, associate professor of behavioral medicine at Touro College, joined “On Balance With Leland Vittert” to discuss this issue, stating that bad behavior is dangerous and puts others in danger, as well.
“We are capturing this now on telephones, people are sending them, beaming them everywhere,” Gardere said. ‘So in some ways, it becomes almost a positive reinforcement for behaving badly.”
Gardere stressed that it’s crucial to hold people accountable for their actions and address this problem to make air travel safe again.
“In some of these cases, people are not held accountable,” Gardere said. “And therefore, people think they can get away with that kind of behavior.”
The increasing incidents of bad behavior on flights are causing concern among passengers and aviation authorities.
Airlines, authorities and passengers must work together to find a solution to this problem and ensure that air travel remains safe and comfortable for everyone, he said.
