Amid the rebound of post-pandemic travel, there has also been an increase in passengers who break airline rules, assault flight crew or otherwise behave badly.
The annual report from International Air Transport Association (IATA) found that while there was one "unruly passenger" incident for every 835 U.S. flights. In 2021, that number rose to one in every 568 flights by 2022.
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The latest incident occurred on July 30 on a Delta Air Lines (DAL) -) flight from Boston to New Jersey's Newark. While only 90 minutes long, the DA5770 flight was forced to turn around to Boston's Logan International Airport shortly after taking off in order to "facilitate the removal of a passenger" who allegedly "made threats related to the safety of the aircraft."
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Passenger Allegedly Threatened Flight Safety
"Delta Airlines Flight 5770, Boston to Newark, returned to Logan Airport this afternoon after an anonymous third part caller reported to a New Jersey police agency that a passenger aboard the plane had allegedly made threats related to the safety of the flight," a Massachusetts State Police spokesperson told a local news outlet in a statement.
While both the airline and the police were slim on details related to what actually transpired, fellow passengers described that the plane landed in Boston after an unexpected turnaround. A male passenger whose name was not released was led off the flight by state troopers.
According to the report released by the Massachusetts State Police, the passenger's carry-on bags were searched by special detection dogs and not found to have any weapons or explosives. The passenger did not have any checked luggage and has not yet been charged although an investigation into the incident is ongoing.
After the traveler had been removed, the flight continued its journey to Newark — the other passengers waited aboard without deplaning.
Plane Safety Incidents Are on the Rise
Earlier this month, a similar incident occurred when an Alaska Airlines (ALK) -) flight from Atlanta to Seattle was diverted to Spokane, Washington after one of the passengers handed a flight attendant a note saying that he had "several pounds of homemade explosives" in his carry-on bag.
Later documents filed in U.S. District Court report that Scott did not actually have explosives but made the threat in order to divert the plane and escape the members of the international Sinaloa Cartel he feared were waiting for him at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
Also in July, a United Airlines (UAL) -) flight from Houston to Amsterdam made an emergency landing in Chicago after a disturbance related to the in-flight meal.
While United has only confirmed that it "landed safely following a passenger disturbance," aviation industry insider Twitter account @XJonNYC reported that the passenger became "livid over the fact his 1st choice of meal was not available."
While incidents of passengers behaving badly are on the rise and make for gripping headlines, they are still a fraction of the millions of flights that take place without incident in a year.
Although not every incident of a passenger being difficult or even disruptive meets official FAA standards of "unruly," one in every 568 flights is still less than a 0.01% chance of encountering an "unruly passenger" on one's flight.
