Airline Industry Targets Unruly Passengers

Unruly and irate passengers aren’t just irritating. They’re also dangerous. For that reason, governments must close legal loopholes that allow such passengers to escape prosecution for serious offenses committed on board aircraft, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which last week hosted a diplomatic conference to discuss the issue.

“Passengers expect to enjoy their journey incident-free. And air crews have the right to perform their duties without harassment,” IATA Director General and CEO Tony Tyler said in a statement. In addition, the inconvenience to other travelers of a forced diversion is significant. At the moment there are too many examples of people getting away with serious breaches of social norms that jeopardize the safety of flights because local law enforcement authorities do not have the power to take action.”

Specifically, IATA has proposed amending the Tokyo Convention — which was negotiated in 1963 and gives jurisdiction over crimes committed on board aircraft to the nation in which the aircraft is registered — to enhance the ability of law enforcement to prosecute violent, disruptive, abusive and otherwise unruly passengers.

“Airlines are doing all they can to prevent and manage unruly passenger incidents, but this needs to be backed up with effective law enforcement,” Tyler continued. “The Tokyo Convention was not originally designed to address unruly behavior and there is a great deal of uncertainty amongst carriers as to what actions crew can take to manage incidents in the air. And if the aircraft lands in a state other than where the aircraft was registered, local authorities are not always able to prosecute.”

Airlines commonly register aircraft in nations other than those where they take off and land. As a result, authorities in those nations often struggle to prosecute unruly passengers. Revising the Tokyo Convention to extend law enforcement rights to the nations where aircraft take off and land would go a long way toward improving the safety of air travel, according to IATA.

“IATA … supports the proposed revisions to the Tokyo Convention,” Tyler concluded. “Closing these legal loopholes will better deter such behavior and make passengers think twice before acting in ways that may put the safety of many at risk.”