Urinating, defecating, yelling: With passengers creating nuisance mid-air, airline, former crew members weigh in on challenges

"We really can't get you a chicken sandwich at 35,000 ft above sea level if we're saying that it's over," says Shirin Bhandare, a former flight attendant with a national air carrier. The Mumbaikar, who was a part of cabin crew for most part of her career, has switched the industries to become a social media influencer. However, she feels for her former community, every time a news flashes of passengers misbehaving on the flight. "After paying such high monies for the tickets, the passengers feel that they literally own us but that's not how it works. They need to understand that we too are humans and we too have our own capacities," she adds.

On more than one occasion, passengers were reported throwing tantrums on flights mid-air. With each passing day, the incidents only get more unique leaving everybody around astounded. These incidents literally halt everybody in their tracks not only in the airplanes but also on the ground as the news flashes on TV. The nuisance it causes is not only to cabin crew but also co-passengers and there seems to be no end. The trend has been on the rise especially since the incident of the Mumbaikar urinating on a female co-passenger came to light late last year in November. The most recent one happened less than a month ago. The passenger not only urinated but also defecated on the floor of the flight causing discomfort to several co-passengers, according to media reports, and was later arrested.

Even though Bhandare admits to not having personally experienced any such behaviour while she was a flight attendant, she says rude behaviour is very common and one that is part and parcel of the lives of cabin crew. "It can come from men, women, or anyone randomly. They don't really understand our point of view," shares the 29-year-old, who believes it happens because people come with different mindsets. "We as cabin crew are trained for such incidents. Be it rude behaviour or anything on those lines, we need to keep calm and tackle such situations. Drunk passengers on board, rude behaviour etc are some of the incidents that we have to deal with regularly," she adds.

However, Bhandare believes that such incidents have increased in the recent past because the protocols followed by the airlines is passenger-biased and that is where cabin crew faces such issues. "We are asked to ignore things to a point where if a passenger slaps us, we can't do anything in return but to keep quiet," she adds.

Psychology of a flier
With cases of such incidents on the rise, there has to be a reason why passengers are misbehaving and feel like they are entitled. Dr Kersi Chavda, consultant psychiatry, PD Hinduja Hospital & MRC in Mahim says, "A lot of people believe that they are privileged and that they have any issues related to the fact that when I pay for a certain thing, I expect to get what I want to get even if it is not amicable to the needs or safety of others. I don't give a damn, I should get what I want." The city-based psychiatrist says it gets worse and exaggerated when alcohol is involved, as it leads to a lot of people drinking throughout the flight, especially if it is 10 - 15 hours long. That may often lead to worse. "They get disinhibited when they land and end up becoming ferocious and doing stuff which normally they wouldn't have done," he adds.

While this is one that involves a flier who frequently travels by air, Chavda says there is a possibility of more than one reason. There may also be others who are flying for the first time and don't know the etiquettes associated with flying, so they are in fear. "They may end up doing or saying things that don't make sense to people around them. They may react in a way which is not appropriate and could end up triggering them and that might make people end up overreacting, which could cause safety issues." The reaction could include being aggressive, hitting out, screaming, pushing people around and that can become a major problem.

Etiquette in the air
When Mid-day.com reached out to Indigo Airlines, they responded saying, "In line with DGCA guidelines, the crew is trained well to differentiate between different kinds of unruly behaviour onboard across levels 01, 02, and 03 as categorised under civil aviation requirement (CAR). The indicative list of unruly behaviour, the national carrier says, includes smoking in an aircraft, acting in an unruly manner, consumption of alcoholic beverages or drugs onboard domestic flights or personal alcohol on international flights resulting in unruly behaviour, endangering the safety of an aircraft or other passengers and failure to obey the instructions of the pilot-in-command (PIC)."

While these are prohibited, the airline has said the resulting actions are based on the severity of the behaviour basis different levels, which can range from a warning to the unruly passenger in the beginning to reading out the red warning card (with the PIC's consent) if the passenger continues to be disruptive. "In some extreme cases, reasonable measures may also include restraining the unruly or violent passenger/s with restraint devices. However, it shall be ensured such action is undertaken against the passenger if the PIC has reasonable grounds to believe that a passenger has committed an act in flight which is a serious offence under the law in force," said the airline in its statement to Mid-day.com. Also, it is not like such incidents haven't happened in the past but definitely may have happened lesser or may have not always been reported due to lack of access to phone cameras or need for virality, or to simply raise such issues in the media. "All the training modules are regularly evaluated and updated, keeping emerging scenarios and customer sentiment in mind," the statement concludes.

Clarion call to airlines for such behaviour
Now that it is being reported more frequently than before, there definitely needs to be proactive action. So, Chavda advises the necessity for the crew members to be aware of looking at and making an educated guess as to whether a person is moving towards becoming disinhibited or acting silly. "When this kind of thing happens, they have to tactfully and firmly refuse to offer more drinks to the person. Maybe the use of a big looking air marshal especially on routes which have known to cause chaos would help. It might also be useful to put restraints or blacklist certain passengers as well."

Additionally, stationing somebody who is like a guard on flights, he says, may just make the difference. "Airlines can even advertise about it so that people know that if they misbehave, they are going to face the repercussions like being blacklisted or maybe even going to jail."