According to a recent study by the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA), 85% of flight attendants have dealt with unruly passengers in some way as of the beginning of 2021. In addition, nearly one in five of the surveyed attendants experienced physical incidents with passengers. These numbers are increasing as passengers become more outraged by the facemask mandates many airlines are enforcing.
Since the development of smartphones, more of these incidents are being captured on video, showing all-out brawls between passengers and the flight attendants on board. Aside from flight attendants being physically or verbally abused, disruptive passengers also become a threat to fellow passengers aboard an aircraft.