Dr. Andrew Thomas, associate professor of marketing and international business, was quoted in a January 15 Travel Hot News story on the rise in unruly airline passenger incidents on aircraft.
The story reports that passengers are increasingly faced with air rage, with reported incidents increasing more than 600% in recent years.
Thomas, a recognized expert on aviation security, notes that changes in the way we fly are partly to blame for the increase in problem passenger incidents.
"The flights are more full...people are carrying more stuff on. So the boarding process is more stressful. The plane is crowded. The seats are smaller….. You add that along with the natural reasons people do this stuff - alcohol or a lack of a nicotine fix, mental illness, legal or illegal drug abuse - and it becomes a cocktail for more of these cases happening."
Thomas is a bestselling author who has written several books including Aviation Insecurity: The New Challenges of Air Travel, Air Rage: Crisis in the Skies and Soft Landing: Airline Industry Strategy, Service, and Safety. He is also editor of the three- volume book set Aviation Security Management. Thomas is the Founding-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Transportation Security and founder of AirRage.org.
Full story: The Rise of the Unruly Passenger