Disruptive Behaviour In-Flight
“...zero tolerance
person has committed, or is about to After all the procedures completed and
commit, on board the aircraft, an offence if the case does go to court, airlines have
policies must be
or act...impose upon such person a duty to support those staff members
reasonable measures including restraint called to give evidence. It is important for
communicated to which are necessary. the crew to know that, should they call for
a. To protect the safety of the aircraft, the authorities to meet the aircraft on
passengers through
or of persons or property therein; or arrival to arrest a passenger, they will
educational
b. To maintain good order and receive the full support of their company
discipline on board, or for having done so.
materials and
c. To enable him to deliver such to
person to competent authorities or to Conclusion
advertising
disembark him in accordance with
the provisions” All this, however, only comes into play if
campaigns...” the industry failed to identify the problem
Post-flight earlier in the chain. In airports, simplified
travel procedures, clear signage,
In the few countries where the Tokyo sufficient seating, clean restrooms and
procedures should be clearly described in Convention has not been ratified or where designated places for smokers all have a
the company’s security programme and legislation has not been passed enforcing role to play. Yet it is a “people problem”
crew operational manuals. the Convention it is difficult for the police and, as such, we need to sensitise all
It will be the flight attendants who will to formally charge an offender. However, airport personnel to the scale of the
bear the brunt of disruptive passengers’ even those states who are signatory to problem and harness their input in an
aggression and who may suffer severe the Convention may have not have either attempt to solve it on a case by case
injuries when managing the more violent the appropriate legislation or the will to basis. Awareness training programmes
offenders. In today’s world, and with the enable them to prosecute an individual should be given to everybody from the
flight deck compartment access control who has carried out an offence on a check-in agent to the airport bar tender.
restrictions being as they are, the foreign-registered aircraft that lands on Zero tolerance policies must be
cockpit crew are not permitted to their soil. For the crew who have communicated to passengers through
intervene in person to help resolve the successfully managed an incident in- educational materials and advertising
situation unless they happen to be flight, spent time writing statements and, campaigns in the form of posters in
travelling as dead-heading crew. Whilst possibly, been injured in the process, it is terminals, announcements broadcast in
they must remain behind a locked extremely frustrating to later find out that lounges and articles in flight
cockpit door, the Commander of the the offender has simply been released – magazines, all explaining the
flight is encouraged to use the powers either with a warning when there is no will consequences of disruptive behaviour
bestowed by the Tokyo Convention. to prosecute or without comment when and acts of interference with crew -
“The aircraft commander may, when he the laws of the land provide no framework members.
has reasonable grounds to believe that a for a prosecution in the first place. The cost of failure is huge. For the
passengers and crew the emotional
impact cannot be under-estimated. For
the carrier, it must also be viewed in
economic terms, especially when the
incident is sufficiently serious as to
warrant a flight diversion, with all the
associated expenses of fuel, landing fees,
re-routings, overnights and subsequent
legal costs associated with prosecutions.
In the airport or in the air, as states or
as companies, as individuals with security
responsibility or as bystanders, the issue
of disruptive passengers will continue to
tax us and the only common solution for
us all is to Communicate, Co-operate and
Co-ordinate.
The author is currently the Cabin Training
Manager for Turkish Airlines, a Cabin
Chief for both B-737 and A-320 fleets and
is the former President of TASSA, the
Turkish Airlines Stewards and
Stewardesses Association.
28 Register now for FREE instant access to ASI online by visiting www.asi-mag.com April 2009 Aviationsecurityinternational
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