What makes an 'unruly' airline passenger?

By Rebecca Ruiz, Senior editor, msnbc.com

To be an "unruly" passenger these days likely means one of three things: exhibiting violent or dangerous behavior that could pose a security risk; engaging in confrontational behavior with the flight crew that might escalate throughout the trip; or, unwittingly signaling to the flight crew that a problem could develop en route.

The solution to each of these scenarios can often be to remove the passenger in question. That approach is clear-cut when the problem is a volatile individual who is exhibiting erratic or threatening behavior.

Last week, for example, a Southwest flight headed to Los Angeles was diverted to Texas when a man began screaming obscenities in the cabin. When the plane landed in Amarillo, the man was arrested.

Live Poll

What in-flight behavior do you consider most disruptive?

The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has reported more than 3,000?unruly passenger?incidents since 1995.

However, several airlines have recently booted passengers who were not necessarily obvious threats.

For example:

• Ricci Wheatley?was removed from a Southwest flight from San Francisco to Dallas in July. Wheatley, traveling with her sister to visit their father who had suffered a heart attack, said she "broke down and started to cry." When the flight attendant passed by, Wheatley said she'd like a glass of wine when beverage service began. The attendant reportedly replied, "I think you've had enough," but Wheatley insisted that she hadn't had anything to drink on the plane. A Southwest spokesperson described the incident as a ?verbal altercation with the flight attendant.?
• In June, Deshon Marman was boarding a flight in San Francisco when a US Airways employee noticed that Marman's sagging pants revealed his boxer shorts. Marman was removed from the plane and arrested when he refused to pull his pants up immediately. The charges against Marman were eventually dropped.

Cases like these have quickly become viral, raising the question of how flight crews define an "unruly" passenger and whether some fliers are arbitrarily singled out for removal.

Sandy DeWitt, a Miami-based commercial photographer, was one of those high-profile removals. In July, she was escorted from a US Airways plane flying from Philadelphia to Miami for being "disruptive," according to the airline.

The trouble seemingly began before DeWitt boarded the plane when she observed an employee at the gate who she felt was acting rude to passengers. With the intention of contacting the airline to complain, DeWitt took a picture of the agent's name tag with an iPhone.

DeWitt says that when she was seated on the plane with her phone powered down, the agent entered the cabin, asked for DeWitt's boarding pass along with that of her husband's, and requested that DeWitt delete the photo. DeWitt was reluctant to comply, but turned the phone back on and deleted the photo.

"I sat back down, put the seat belt back on and that?s when [a US Airways employee] came back and asked us to grab our possessions and exit the plane," said DeWitt. "I asked why and he said, 'Because the flight crew wants you removed.' "

?Once onboard, she was using foul and explicit language,? Todd Lehmacher, a spokesperson for US Airways, told msnbc.com. ?She was removed at the request of the captain.?

DeWitt denies cursing and says the person who escorted her from the plane refused to answer additional questions about why she and her husband were removed. She wrote the airline to inquire about the incident and to possibly obtain a refund, but never heard back.

Lehmacher maintains that DeWitt was being disruptive and said that he did not believe the airline had contacted her since the incident.

There is little recourse for DeWitt; the FAA authorizes captains to remove a passenger at his or her discretion.

In 1995, the FAA began keeping track of "unruly" passenger incidents in which a flier violates federal law by assaulting, threatening or interfering with a crew member, or interfering with his or her duties. That can include a range of behavior, like a passenger's refusal to turn off an electronic device or keep a seat belt fastened.

The annual number of incidents has fluctuated widely since 1995. That year the FAA reported 146 "unruly" passengers across the country. That number climbed steadily until reaching its peak in 2004, at 304 cases. It then dropped by more than half and hovered just above 100. Last year, the FAA registered 121 cases; as of June 20, 2011, there had been 36 incidents.

Alison Duquette, a spokesperson for the FAA, said one possible explanation for the spike in incidents was increased vigilance around cabin behavior post-Sept. 11. "The only thing we can really guess," she said, "is you would think after 9/11 that people would have more of a focus on behaving correctly on an airplane, and people being more aware of presence of federal air marshals."

Though the FAA's statistics indicate that the number of disruptive passengers has decreased in recent years, those numbers don't include incidents that crew members and airlines don't report to the government agency.

Altercations involving a security threat or suspicious activity are reported to the Transportation Security Administration, and if the matter is serious enough, will be investigated, and possibly prosecuted, by local or federal law enforcement. Those cases also aren't reflected in the FAA's tally.

The TSA would not make the number or type of passenger incidents involving security available to msnbc.com.

Some airlines will not discuss their passenger-removal policies, citing security precautions.

Ed Martelle, a spokesman for American Airlines, wrote to msnbc.com in an e-mail: "Those guidelines would be part of our security program.?We're sorry, but we can't discuss them."

Christen David, a spokesperson for Continental and United, wrote: "Unfortunately I?m unable to address any of these questions.?There are multiple levels of security in place, but as a matter of policy, we do not publicly discuss security procedures or training."

Whitney Eichinger, a spokesperson for Southwest Airlines, said that a verbal altercation is a red flag for flight crew members. "Once those take place, there?s a certain point where our flight crew deems it would be best to [have the passenger] take the next possible flight," she said. "Anytime we have customers who are combative, we have to make the decision of what?s best for the customers."

Candace Kolander, coordinator for the air safety, health and security department at the Association of Flight Attendants, said such scrutiny of confrontational exchanges has not always been the norm. Since Sept. 11, flight crew members have been trained to identify disruptive behavior that could put safety at risk during the flight.?

"Previously, yes, we may have been a little more willing to accept a little bit more," said Kolander. "But now if you think about the whole philosophy of what are you looking for ... the reality is you want to be aware of every passenger?s behavior. If it is odd or disruptive, you have to take a different stance. You never know where the situation is headed."

Kolander said that someone who appears drunk, for example, might be removed from the plane before takeoff if a crew member thinks there's a chance the flier could get up in mid-flight and cause a commotion or attempt to open the cockpit or plane door. If a drunk passenger injures a flight attendant, it then endangers the flight as that crew member might not be able to evacuate passengers in the event of an emergency.

"If you?re having problems with a passenger and they seem to be escalating when you?re at the gate," said Kolander, "you are going to think about it and say, 'I am stuck in that aircraft tube with that decision I made.' "

More from Overhead Bin:

Rebecca Ruiz is a senior editor at?msnbc.com. Follow her on?Twitter.

Source: http://overheadbin.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/10/11/8273534-what-makes-an-unruly-airline-passenger

andy rooney theo epstein theo epstein darknet james ray act williston nd