277 reports of incidents on flights in Belgium

The Belgian FPS Mobility registered 277 reports on unruly airline passengers in 2024, according to the newspaper Le Soir. Although FPS Mobility does not have precise statistics on in-flight aggression, crew testimony shows that alcohol and nicotine addiction often play a role in incidents.

Indeed, according to the figures on the in-flight incident count of FPS Mobility, 101 people on board were caught smoking, and 23 passengers were drunk. Other incidents include passengers letting their pets loose in the cabin or using their cell phones while it was forbidden.

Increase in air rage incidents

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) keeps figures on air rage incidents. The latest IATA figures show an increase in the rate of reported unruly passenger incidents.

Based on over 24,500 incident reports from over 50 operators globally, one incident occurred for every 480 flights in 2023, compared to one incident for every 568 flights in 2022. Non-compliance with crew instructions was the most frequent descriptor.

Also, according to the US Civil Aviation Regulatory Authority (FAA), the number of ‘difficult’ passengers has risen sharply in the aviation industry in recent years, reaching a record of nearly 6,000 incidents in 2021. In 2022, 2023, and 2024, there were still some 2,000 incidents each time.

Major consequences

When a passenger becomes troublesome, the crew initially intervenes – staff are trained to do so. But if a passenger becomes physically or verbally aggressive, the highest ‘unruly passenger’ level is reached, and the captain intervenes.

The captain may then order the arrest and handcuffing of the passenger. In most cases, this is done by the cabin crew. But it can also happen that an emergency landing is made to disembark a passenger who is too unmanageable—a decision with significant consequences, both logistically and financially.

For example, Ireland’s low-cost airline Ryanair recently sued a passenger for disrupting a flight last year. The company is demanding 15,000 euros in damages.

And just to give you an idea of what conditions cabin crew sometimes face, here’s a little example: A few weeks ago, on an American Airlines flight from Savannah, Georgia, to Miami, less than a minute after takeoff, a passenger began yelling and shaking, claiming that a demonic spirit had entered the cabin.

He began swallowing rosary beads to subdue the spirit. He attacked flight attendants and was wrestled to the ground by several passengers. His sister, who was traveling with him, reported the two were headed toward Haiti to “flee religious attacks of a spiritual nature.” The pilot turned the plane around, and the disruptive passenger was booked into the Chatham County jail in Savannah.