Unruly air passenger incidents on the rise: IATA

A new analysis by International Air Transport Association (IATA) released this week showed that post-pandemic, unruly passenger incidents are on the rise.  The latest figures show that there was one unruly incident reported for every 568 flights in 2022, up from one per 835 flights in 2021.  

The most common categorizations of incidents in 2022 were non-compliance, verbal abuse, and intoxication. Physical abuse incidents remain very rare, but these had an alarming increase of 61 percent over 2021, occurring once every 17,200 flights.   

“The increasing trend of unruly passenger incidents is worrying. Passengers and crew are entitled to a safe and hassle-free experience on board. For that, passengers must comply with crew instructions,” said IATA Deputy Director General Conrad Clifford.