Airlines see sharp rise in unruly passengers, says industry group

One in every 1,205 flights has an incident with unruly passengers

The number of incidents of unruly behaviour by airline passengers rose sharply in 2015.

Incidents of people getting in fights, being verbally abusive or refusing to follow cabin crew orders were up by 17%, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Bad behaviour on planes is on the up

Alcohol or drug use was identified as a factor in one in four incidents. In 11% of cases, there was physical aggression or even damage to the aircraft.


Some 10,854 incidents of passengers disrupting flights were reported to IATA last year, up from 9,316 incidents in 2014. That's one incident for every 1,205 flights.