What could be the reason for ever increasing in-flight fights? Unruly passengers, entitled attitudes, uncontrolled rage...

The skies are the new streets. And they have definitely taken the street-fights to sky high levels. Struggling to connect the dots? Ask Air India whose reputation was recently peed on by a couple of drunk passengers.

The infamous pee-gate case, which occurred in November on Air India's New York-Delhi flight, might be rare but not the air rage (named affectionately after the notorious road rage) that's upgrading with almost each flight and collecting frequent flyer miles by the hour.
Less than eleven days after the Shankar Mishra case, another incident of a drunk passenger urinating on board occurs on yet another Air India flight. This time for a flight between Delhi and Paris. Fortunately, only the blanket and vacant seat were peed on and not the passenger. Around the same time, another unruly and inebriated passenger was caught smoking in the plane's lavatory.

But Air India wasn't spared even if in one of the case the parties reached a comprise and the guilty tendered a written apology. The DGCA in a statement, said, that Air India didn't report the incident until the incident report was sought from them.

While Air India might not be very enthused about reporting such incidents, but the social media is, if the viral videos are anything to go by. And the netizens are just as resourceful and enterprising when it comes to passing judgements.

"Herogiri ho gayi?" read one of the comments wherein a passenger gets into a brawl and tells his co-passenger, "Do you know who I am?". The incident, sending mockwaves (not shockwaves anymore) among the netizens, was originally shared on Instagram page Being Aviators. "Did he finally find out who he is," read another post.

The in-fight flights have become as rampant, as rugged and just as widely reported. Over reasons, probably much smaller, and sometimes more justified than road rage even. Stretching in the aisle, reclining without permission, hogging the arm rest, encroaching into other's space, group travellers creating nuisance...the platform provides endless possibilities. And no one even get the aviation industry started on that, "urge to instantly get up once the flight has landed."

Fight or flight response has assumed a new meaning and flight etiquette have nothing much to do with it. And before Indians jump to take extra credit, in April last year, a stuck seat led to a wild free-for-all brawl on American Airlines flight. The reclined seat got stuck and that snowballed into a fist blow trade.

Whereas a month later, in May six passengers were arrested after they all came to blows onboard a KLM flight between Manchester and Amsterdam. Reason did you ask?

And before men jump to take extra credit, The Sun reported a brawl between two women even before the flight could take off. The women fighting at the departure gate in January 2022 led to a delayed flight. Entitled attitude and behaviour is spreading wings.

The only thing that's left is, we can't call our friends, brothers, friends of brothers and brothers of the friends to just land up at the spot, show the might, and fix the other party. That happens outside college gates or in student politics right? But who cares, there are other co-passengers to take sides and pass judgements or cool the tempers, as the case maybe. And there's social media to spread the word.