Air rage: Why the caged bird sings

By Ed Hewitt

updated 8:33 p.m. ET Oct. 30, 2007

Air rage is back, it's in, and it's not going away any time soon — so get used to it.

Take the Congressman who completely lost it when his luggage was lost (welcome to our world, Rep. Filner). Or the woman who was kicked off a Southwest plane for wearing what looked like what passes for a fashionable miniskirt these days. And don't forget the airline employees who are ticked off themselves, and can recount stories of being shoved, hit and spat upon. Clearly, the yawning disconnect between the traveling public and the air transport system that is supposed to serve them is getting more pronounced every day.

When these stories hit the news, it can be tough to choose sides. In most cases everyone involved got a little too hot under the collar, things got out of control, and everyone and no one is wholly to blame. However — unfortunately, I don't know anyone who hasn't encountered some plain old garden-variety nastiness when placed at the mercy of our airlines. So it's no surprise that on a daily basis, nastiness is met with nastiness in return. The result: air rage. What can you do about it? Read on. ...

Who's to blame?
There's plenty of blame to go around. First, airline policies seem to encourage employees to deny and dissemble instead of trying to inform and instruct, which would seem almost to be our due as paying customers. Second, passengers with a short fuse or too much booze can poison an entire gate area for hours, and we all suffer the consequences. Finally, the airlines hold all the power, and while a power imbalance by nature is asking for trouble, it gets even worse when agents indulge in normal but unattractive human traits like spite, revenge and even skullduggery.

While we all share the blame, we all also share the pain; on the front lines, we're all foot soldiers, travelers and airline employees alike. Members of the traveling public, by virtue of having paid for their transport to go visit Grandma, have a legitimate expectation to be treated fairly. But across the counter, the front line employees of the airports and airlines, while paid relatively well, are getting a raw deal just the same; they get all of the problems and not so much of the massive profits the airlines are raking in these days. Anyone who thinks passengers are perfect angels should check out this article — I think we can agree that passengers can give just as much nastiness as they get.

Under most circumstances, however, I admit my sympathies are with travelers. Folks who hate their work as airline agents should make an effort to find new, more amenable jobs. And in my experience, shoddy treatment at the airport is so routine that just getting off the ground is cause for considerable relief. Thus, it's a little galling to some that the phenomenon of "air rage" is generally thought to apply primarily to passengers — as though only passengers misbehave, and never airline employees. The more likely truth is that only passengers have little or no recourse in the transaction — and when they are given no information, and stripped of control and perhaps even dignity ... well, we know why the caged bird sings.

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So we end up with public crusades to hold airlines accountable, professional travelers declaring that they absolutely will not fly, and the President of the United States issuing proclamations about the air traffic control system.

Any change on the horizon?
The airways are public property, and while we have to submit to reasonable restrictions to use those airways, we shouldn't have to submit to inconsiderate treatment on trip after trip after trip. So while many airline experts say that passing legislation to hold airlines accountable is a mistake, I disagree wholeheartedly. This is our airspace, and if the airlines cannot manage our property without mismanaging it, then we need some basic rules in place.

Limits on extended strandings on tarmacs, minimum requirements for sharing information and guidelines for compensation (monetary or otherwise) would simply make for a more honest transaction. If you can fine a TV station or a radio shock jock six or seven figures for showing and saying inconsiderate things on the public airwaves, then certainly the people making gargantuan profits off the public airways should be equally accountable.

Will it happen any time soon? The airlines make big promises, but the facts are against them. Despite the nice commercial, Delta's on-time arrival rate for 2007 was 74 percent, and the airline still has no policy pledge to allow passengers off a stranded plane. Overall, the airline industry's on-time performance in the first seven months of 2007 was its worst since comparable data began being collected in 1995.

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