Air travel can be the worst, especially if you’re squished into economy on your flight while people who make more money than you (or were upgraded, or are more diligent about racking up frequent flyer miles) get to enjoy being treated like humans in first class.
It’s not surprising that this type of anger is shared by a lot of people, but now there’s a study that correlates these specific feelings with actual “air rage” incidents. According to the LA Times, the study, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, came to this conclusion:
Researchers report that the simple presence of a first-class cabin on an airplane is correlated with an almost fourfold increase in the frequency of “air rage” incidents in economy class.
And when economy-class passengers are forced to pass through the luxurious first-class area on their way to the cramped economy seats, the rate of air rage incidents is more than seven times higher than if there are no first-class seats at all.
While true air rage incidents — serious enough to endanger people on the flight — are rare, because the study encompasses thousands of flights over several years on an anonymous international airline, the pattern is still quite stark. So lead study author Katherine DeCelles suggests that airlines minimize first class-induced air rage incidents by closing the curtain between the two sections, and just — you know — treating economy passengers well.
(via LA Times)
