A huge rise in cases of unruly behaviour and disturbances have been witnessed on flights- thats according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
From the beginning of the year (2021), the aviation sector has seen in increase of 500% in disturbances across flights and airports, mostly in relation to the wearing, or in this case, not wearing of masks.
The agency says from 1 January, they have received 3,509 reports surrounding passengers behaviours, with 2,605 of them due to mask refusal.
In a statement to the House Homeland Security Subcommittee, Darby LaJoye of the TSA said “TSA has unfortunately seen an increase in unruly passengers at TSA checkpoints across the country and onboard aircraft,”
“This shows a dramatic increase in the number of incidents onboard aircraft, which occur for a variety of reasons, many of which are mask-related, frequently leading to agitated passengers who at times have become violent towards fellow passengers and the flight crew.”
the 3,509 reports come as a shock when compared to pre-pandemic times of 2019, where FAA received 1,230 reports.
