For Immediate Release July 6, 2001

Contact: Dawn Deeks 703-582-8367 (cell)

Flight Attendants Issue Air Rage Report Card:
Government and Airlines Fail

WASHINGTON— The Association of Flight Attendants, AFL-CIO, issued an air rage report card Friday that gives the Federal Aviation Administration, the airlines and the Department of Justice failing grades in protecting flight attendants and passengers from the dangers of air rage.

"There are an estimated 4,000 incidents of air rage each year," said AFA International President Patricia Friend. "It only takes one incident to create an air disaster. The airlines, the FAA and the Department of Justice have failed to act. And that puts the safety of every single person who boards an airplane at risk."

The report card was issued at Reagan National Airport and was followed by public information leafleting at National, San Francisco Airport, Charlotte Airport and Phoenix Airport. Events also took place in selected cities around the world as a part of Global Zero Air Rage Day sponsored by the International Transport Workers Federation.

The Air Rage Report Card shows —

The airlines have:

	Failedto promote cabin safety over profits
	Failedto adopt essential crew training guidelines, outlined in the FAA advisory circular
	Failedto take responsibility for air rage incidents
	Failedto support workers who are victims of air rage

The FAA has:

	Failedto require airlines to report all air rage incidents
	Failedto require airlines to train crew to handle air rage
	Failedto levy and collect fines to serve as a deterrent
	Failedto protect the safety of crew and passengers

The Department of Justice has:

Failedto follow through with deputization program, enacted into law in 2000, allows some perpetrators of air rage to walk free after committing a crime

The White House:

	Work incomplete
	Has the power to force FAA and DOJ to address airline and governmental failures regarding air rage

Air rage is a felony, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, $10,000 in criminal penalties and $25,000 in civil fines. However, the FAA is failing to enforce those penalties. In the past 12 months, just 18 civil fines for air rage have been levied and only one has been collected.

Unruly passenger behavior generally falls into five categories:

	alcohol related incidents
	use of prohibited electronic devices
	smoking in lavatories
	drug or medication related incidents
	bomb or hijack threats

Reasons for unruly passengers' behavior are varied.
Disruptive passengers are members of every socio-economic group. They are male and female, young and old, first class, business, and economy travelers.

	free flowing alcohol
	more people flying
	oversold flights
	crowded planes
	small seats
	excessive and oversized carry-on bags
	frequent delays and cancellations
	conflicting carrier policies

According to a study by NASA/ASRS presented in March 2000, unruly passengers whose behavior disrupts pilots can cause serious flying errors. In 40 percent of the 152 cases NASA/ASRS analysts studied, pilots either left the cockpit to quell a disturbance or were interrupted from their routine by flight attendants seeking help. In a quarter of those cases, the pilots said they committed errors such as flying too fast, going to the wrong altitude, or taxiing across runways reserved for other aircraft.

Air rage incidents have also resulted in emergency landings, cockpit break-ins, physical injury to crew and passengers and emotional trauma for everyone onboard.

Flight attendants experience the brunt of passenger misconduct. In the confined environment of a crowded aircraft at 30,000 feet, cabin crew simply cannot walk away or call for help in threatening or violent situations. The nearest police force might be hours of flying time away.

Assaulting a flight attendant threatens the safety of passengers and is a violation of federal law, but enforcement of the law is spotty, at best. Federal Aviation Regulations state, "no person may assault, threaten, intimidate, or interfere with a crewmember in the performance of the crewmember s duties aboard an aircraft being operated." Crew interference is a crime, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, $10,000 in criminal penalties and $25,000 in civil fines. Yet, the FAA has issued a mere 18 fines in the past 12 months and only one has been collected.

There are no reliable industry-wide numbers on air rage. The FAA only reports the number of enforcement actions it takes each year, since the airlines are not required to report air rage incidents. One airline alone, United Airlines, records many more air rage incidents each year than the FAA records as enforcement actions for the entire industry.The number of enforcement actions is drastically lower than the Air Transport Associations estimated 4,000 air rage incidents each year, and the FAA uses these inaccurate numbers to claim the number of air rage incidents is declining.

Air Rage Incidents	1997	1998	1999	2000
FAA Report of Entire Airline Industry:	320	282	310	266
United Airlines:	531	621	454	n/a

THE SOLUTIONS

Zero Tolerance, Mandatory Training and Victim Support: Airlines must adopt and enforce written policies on disruptive passengers that spell out the steps to be taken when an incident occurs. The airline must also provide comprehensive, realistic training on handling disruptive passengers to all airline employees. Support, such as legal advice and time off for court appearances should be provided for victims of air rage.

Mandatory Incident Reports: The FAA must require all airlines to report all incidents of air rage. The FAA and the airlines cannot continue to treat crew interference as a rare, isolated problem. Mandatory reporting is the only way to truly track the scope and penalties of air rage.

Responsible Alcohol Policies: Airlines must establish more responsible alcohol service policies. No alcoholic drinks should be served before take off. Only one drink should be served at a time. The airlines should train flight attendants to recognize drunken behavior and how to effectively cut off passengers who have had too much. Free drinks should never be used as compensation for delays or cancellations. In addition, airlines should remind gate agents to enforce the law and deny boarding to intoxicated passengers. Gate agents must also be properly trained to recognize the signs of inebriation, to prevent a potentially dangerous situation on the aircraft.

Law Enforcement Cooperation: In 2000, the U.S. Congress passed a law to deputize law enforcement officials to arrest or detain passengers suspected of crewmember interference. But the implementation of this important program has been spotty. There is still confusion over jurisdictional issues on international flights, which allows some perpetrators to walk free.

More Passenger Education: Educational materials explaining laws governing interference with crew members and the possible consequences must be provided to passengers. Warnings should be placed on safety cards in airline seat pockets, on ticket jackets or boarding passes. An announcement warning passengers about the consequences of air rage should be included in the pre-flight passenger safety briefing.

More than 50,000 flight attendants at 28 airlines are joined together in AFA, the world's largest flight attendant union. Visit us at www.afanet.org.

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See also:

	Air Rage Victim Statement: Yvonne Bean
	Air Rage Victim Statement: Sam Bishop
	Air Rage Victim Statement: Lynn White
	Air Rage Report Card poster