Airline passengers are becoming more outrageous

More airline passengers are suffering from air rage, according to government figures, which also show that many disturbances onboard are fuelled by alcohol.

According to the Department of Transport, there were 3,485 incidents of disruptive behaviour onboard UK aircraft in the year to March, 783 more than in the previous year.

A total of 44 of these incidents were classed by the Department of Transport as serious. Unruly passengers had to be restrained and in some cases the aircraft had to be diverted.

Airlines will often try to retrieve the considerable cost of a diversion from the passengers involved, and they should be aware that their travel insurance will not pick up the bill.

In the preceding year, there were 31 serious air age incidents and the DoT blamed the rise on passengers drinking alcohol onboard.

Alcohol was involved in more than a third of all air rage incidents. A third of the passengers involved in drink-fuelled rages were drinking their own booze that they had brought on to the aircraft.

Arguments between passengers was the other main reason for passengers' behaviour getting out of hand, some of which was described by the DoT report at 'threatening'.

Smoking was also a factor in air rage incidents, with 95 per cent of the passengers involved smoking in the toilets, which are fitted with smoke detectors.

The figures show that the chances of passengers encountering an air rage incident are still pretty slim, however.

There were serious incidents on one flight in 24,000 in 2008/09 compared with one in 35,000 flights the preceding year.

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