The recent spate of violent incidents at U.S. airports is creating concerns across the industry about what’s fueling this rage and how local leaders can respond to protect the public and airport employees.
According to the FAA, there have been more than 3,000 reports of unruly passengers on flights this year alone.
While there’s no clear culprit causing these issues, employee training is key in staving off an incident at your airport.
Why the Sudden Rise in Violence
Robert Wheeler, vice president of national aviation/maritime operations for Allied Universal, said various factors are fueling the rise in violent incidents coming out of the pandemic, starting with the demographic of who’s flying now. Business travel hasn’t rebounded yet, so almost all of the traffic is leisure being lured in by extremely low airfare prices and many of them are uneducated and unfamiliar with the steps involved with air travel.
Couple this with a lack of staffing in all areas across the airports and the political turmoil with law enforcement and anti-facemask elements in the population and it creates a situation to spark violent reactions in airports. Of the 3,000 incidents on flights, the FAA states about 2,300 involved disputes over facemasks.
“The bottom line is that it’s a lot of different issues we’re facing as an industry,” Wheeler said. “We’ve been rolling out additional customer service training to train staff on verbal communications to stop situations from escalating.”
What You Can Do
Customer service is going to be key in halting these issues, Wheeler said. The industry needs to admit the fact it lost people and a lot of funding over the course of the last 18 months and it’s dealing with a different element of people who are flying.
“We’re seeing more guns right now at our checkpoints and not just guns, but loaded guns,” Wheeler said. “It just shows you the lack of education about flying that the people who are going back into the airports right now.”
Wheeler suggested airports think about adding a customer service element for SIDA badge training. Some airports are even training staff to identify and report travelers who look agitated or unfamiliar with the processes in the airport so staff can intervene.
Wheeler you’re going to see a transition of not necessarily the hardline security but the airports investing in a customer service assistance ambassador. Airports like Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) have rolled out assistance ambassadors who are meeting travelers when they enter the airport to assist them with questions.
“We really need to get back in touch with the public and find a way to communicate and understand one another and meet in the middle,” Wheeler said. “We need to take a step back, look at our security footprint and why we’re in the airports and if the staffing is going to be an issue, take a look at how we can work with customer service or look at ways we can get more people TSA precheck approval or ways to make the process easier.”
How the Industry Can Respond
Airports and airlines are still enforcing zero tolerance mask mandates within the terminals despite local and state governments easing restrictions with the ebbing of the pandemic. This is further inflaming issues with a traveling public that has gotten used to life without a mask again and can’t understand strict measures at the airport.
“After we’ve gone thought this situation of forcing this onto the people and then we alleviate it and they come back into the airport and we’re forcing it on them, there’s no clear objective from the FAA or the TSA as to what suit they’re going to follow,” Wheeler said. “The current administration only knows as much as it’s fed and all the advisors are coming in from the industry.”
Wheeler said the federal government needs to make decisions and communicate with the public and aviation community as to the timeframe for removing mask mandates.
He also mentioned the need to get staff back into airports. Tens of thousands lost their positions in all facets of aviation operations when the pandemic hit. The return of travel has come quicker than anticipated, so they all lack the staffing and experience in the field to mitigate issues.
The lack of TSA agents are causing massive lines and understaffed airlines are causing flight cancellations and delays, which leaves airports in the lurch handling the already agitated flyers.
“When you look at the lack of customer service, I don’t think you can go back and blame it on the inline person that they’re not being sensitive or they’re not offering customer service,” Wheeler sad. “They’re just overtaxed right now.”
