Browsing through the headlines on Saturday morning, I saw that a woman in Phoenix attacked a TSA employee for taking her apple juice. Elsewhere that day, a brawl broke out on a flight from Australia, leading to a forced landing, and four passengers arrested. That’s just from a quick browse through the top headlines on Saturday, a random day. It seems like it’s a pretty common thing now to hear about disruptions, fights, brawls, temper tantrums breaking out on planes and at tourist sites and all over. Because some aspects of travel do put pressure on people, a certain amount of that stress erupts on flights, in airports, and so forth.
We’re headed into the long, hot summer, most likely the hottest in history again, and people are traveling again in high numbers. The air transportation system is going to be pushed to the max. People are going to be pressurized, frustrated. It’s going to lead to some flare-ups. It’s wise to be cognizant of that fact. It’s one extra little bit of stress to consider when making travel arrangements.
Be ready for problems, cancellations, possibly being stranded. These things are bound to happen. Allow for the possibilities. Put more time in your schedule to compensate for interruptions or delays. Stay as well rested and nourished as you can as you head into a trip. Try not to let it throw you off too much if things go wrong. And don’t be surprised if someone else overreacts. Everyone has a breaking point, just be glad it’s not you. And hopefully stay out of the way if any fists are thrown.
This is a phenomenon that would serve us well to be cognizant of. In some ways it’s been under-reported because, for example, the tour operators I have spoken to about it were not eager to be quoted as the voice of propriety that lectures their guests on how to behave. But it was not normal, and it was not just the experience of one or two tour operators. It was a much wider phenomenon.
It’s not just that it seems as if things have gotten worse in this regard, they really have. According to a report on CNBC, there were more than 5,700 reports of air rage in 2021, compared to the previously normal yearly rate of 100 to 150 cases. That’s a wild increase of more than 5,000 percent. That’s something that should cause concern. A trend like that could not be sustainable for long. Hopefully, it will be turn out to be a spike that will subside.
It’s not something travel industry people like to talk about too much, but for whatever combination of reasons, a lot of people have come out of the pandemic all riled up. People were eager to get out and travel again, and maybe they were supercharged from cabin fever, or crazed from too much screen time—but they had short fuses. They expected to enjoy the service levels they were used to before the pandemic. And they had no patience. Unfortunately, companies that had been virtually out of business, in some cases for years, could not instantly regain their 2019 levels of efficiency and productivity.
So, tour operators told me, there was a gap between the expectations of travelers and what the industry could reliably deliver under the current circumstances. Many of the people who worked in the industry pre-Covid have since moved onto other careers. Travel service companies had trouble restaffing and retraining to meet the suddenly surging demand for the many people whose services are required to make each trip happen.
Even though travel companies were discreet in talking about it, the word did get out and eventually it became widely recognized that an alarming civility problem had erupted in America, and it certainly had surfaced in the travel experience.
In December 2022, a story in the Atlantic by Tiya Miles told about people throwing temper tantrums at national parks, an appalling increase in incidents of mistreatment of employees, with visitors using profanity, calling them morons—even shoving, cursing and spitting on employees. Wow. That’s demoralizing to hear. At the national parks?! Have we fallen that far that fast?
One woman who was working as a greeter at one of the lodges, had the unpleasant responsibility of reminding people to put on masks before entering the building. That made some people furious and made her the target of a lot of abuse. As she herself said, “What kind of person is mean to service people?” What is going on here? Why is this happening?
In my experience, the national parks were places where people went who shared a sort of reverence for nature and the beautiful landscapes, and for the fact that they were set aside as National Parks for all citizens to share and to enjoy. If you didn’t have that kind of reverence, why would you even go there?
That sense of respect seemed to me to be the pervading sentiment in the national parks that I’ve visited. I’m sure that mood still pervades in all the national parks most of the time. It must have been a sad moment to hear a childish tantrum break through that mood of harmony with nature that usually prevails.
Things are always changing, and we must adapt to change, but that’s one change we don’t need to keep. Obviously no one can prevent all violence and hostility from breaking out everywhere. Things are going to happen. There will be some unpleasant incidents. All we can do as individuals is to do our own parts, just try to make the world a little better in our own individual circles of influence, among the people we have dealings with—whether in person, online, or wherever.
To quote New York City Mayor Eric Adams’s warning to people planning to come to New York to protest. “Control yourselves.” It doesn’t seem like such a radical idea. We have a shared interest in maintaining some kind of civil order.
As we approach the peak travel season, we each have to do our part, try to under react, try to stay peaceful. Don’t get rattled. Don’t lose your cool. Travelers have to be street smart, flexible, go with the flow. Don’t be like the bad vibesters at the national parks.
I like this quote by J. Krishnamurti.
“We are the world. The world is you and me, the world is not separate from you and me… there is a common relationship between us all. We are the world essentially, basically, fundamentally. The world is you, and you are the world.”
I do believe that whatever good we do for others goes out into the world in waves and has influence far beyond what we ever know. Sadly, the same is true for bad karma. So, yes, I think we can individually make some difference in what kind of world we live in.
I am hoping that we may be already bouncing back from the worst of this kind of rage, as the chaos and disruption of Covid gradually fade away. I hope the pendulum has reached its limit on its recent swing toward incivility. Time will tell.
Most people don’t want to be violent or hostile, and aren’t most of the time. But, when pressure increases, tempers sometimes flare. If things get hot, a word to the wise from Ice in West Side Story: Stay cool.
David Cogswell is a freelance writer working remotely, from wherever he is at the moment. Born at the dead center of the United States during the last century, he has been incessantly moving and exploring for decades. His articles have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, Fortune, Fox News, Luxury Travel Magazine, Travel Weekly, Travel Market Report, Travel Agent Magazine, TravelPulse.com, Quirkycruise.com, and other publications. He is the author of four books and a contributor to several others. He was last seen somewhere in the Northeast US.