New airline rules that come with fines up to $11,000
Travellers are being asked to be considerate of frontline workers, as airlines report their employees have experienced a dramatic increase in abuse since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A campaign demanding respect for those workers is being launched by four major airlines in conjunction with the Australian Federal Police, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority and airports around the country.
Speaking to the ABC, Peter Gibson from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority said there has been a “big increase in the number of incidents in recent months, and indeed, over the last few years”, and urged passengers to behave decently during the holiday season.
“It is all sorts of things – it is people being abusive, it is people being physically aggressive, it is people damaging property – all things which are, obviously, unacceptable.
“In many cases, they are against the law, and of course can, in flight, put safety at risk.”
As for the cause of the approximately 15 per cent rise in incidents, Gibson said, “We think it is related to the pandemic. People are obviously under a lot of stress. Then, you have got on top of that all the restrictions and requirements such as mask wearing and, for some people, that just means that the stress builds up during their travels.
“It comes out in bad behaviour. Now, it is kind of understandable, but it is certainly not acceptable.”
Mr Gibson said some incidents were triggered by things as small as brushing someone’s back while putting luggage into an overhead compartment. He told the ABC, “We have had ones where cabin crew were moving luggage in the overhead looker to make room for someone to put their bags up and a person has started abusing them for touching their backs.
“We have had another where someone was – a crew member – was reminding someone to wear a mask, and was abused, and then physically grabbed for having the temerity to tell them to follow the rules. So, it is really silly behaviour.”
Mr Gibson reminded passengers that harsh new measures, including potential jail time, were being considered for passengers who disrupt flights to such an extent that they have to be rerouted. He explained, “If you are disrupting the flight, you are distracting the crew from its duty. The pilots have got to turn the aircraft around and land somewhere else because they have got to offload the passenger who is misbehaving.
“That costs tens of thousands of dollars, and people are now on notice that the airlines may well seek to recover that money from you, and of course, when you get off the aircraft, you will be met with the police and you could be met with big fines, or in serious cases, even face the courts and a potential jail sentence.”
Harsh penalties for unruly behaviour on an aircraft have been introduced by civil aviation safety regulators, and they include fines that range from “a bit over $1000 to over $11,000”. Mr Gibson added, “If you break those, in serious cases, we could see prosecution.”
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