Air Rage is disruptive passenger behaviour which can range from the failure to obey safety instructions to verbal harassment or physical assault directed at airline staff. Air Rage occurs both at airports and in flight. In flight Air Rage is taken very seriously and has significant penalties for offenders - at airports, rage and violence is often not treated so seriously.
What is our campaign?
Our goal is to make our airports safer by collecting statistics showing how often Air Rage incidents in airports occur and how they are dealt with. We also need your opinion about how security at Australian airports can be improved.
With this information we can campaign to make sure our airports are safe places to work.
The Zero Air Rage Committee of the Australian Services Union (ASU) National Airlines Division is responsible for this campaign.
This committee includes employees of airlines and ground handlers who work at Australian airports and who know what pressures there are on customer service employees at airports.
The ASU is the largest union of customer service employees in Australia and we made a submission to the Federal Parliament's Joint Parliamentary Committee Review of Aviation Security in Australia. The information gathered in our survey was used in our submission to the Committee. The ASU appeared before the Committee on Tuesday 21 October 2003 in Melbourne.
Click here to view ASU submission.
Click here to view the transcript of the ASU's evidence to the Committee on 21 October 2003.
Click here to view the ASU's 2003 survey results.
The ASU has conducted a further survey of members on key issues in aviation in preparation for our submissions in response to the Federal Government's Aviation Policy Discussion Paper and the Government's Green Paper in 2008 and 2009. We addressed members concerns with air rage. Check out our submissions here Submission to Aviation Policy Green Paper and our 2008 aviation issues survey results.
Tell us about your experience
The ASU is always looking to improve security. If you have comments or stories you can email us. You can also e-mail us to provide us with information about how we can make our airports safer. Email link can be found in the left side bar.
The international campaign against air rage
The ASU has been very active in the area of Air Rage at airports. Our members participated in the worldwide Zero Air Rage Campaign organised by the International Transport Workers Federal (ITF) some years ago (some of you may remember our bright yellow stickers).
You can find out more about the international campaign at the ITF's page: Campaign against unruly passengers
Media coverage
Call centre staff need counselling as rage increases, by Garrett Mundy, 26 November 2012, ABC News
Bikie `on rampage' at airport, by Stephen Drill, Ellen Whinnett and Liam Houlihan, 29 March 2009, The Herald Sun
Sydney Airport in the dark on bikie threat, by Natalie O'Brien and Steve Creedy, 24 March 2009, The Australian
Airport rage as Qantas worker slapped by passenger - By Robyn Ironside, The Courier Mail, December 12, 2008
Air rage set to rise as airlines hike fees, fares, by Steve Creedy, 4 July 2008, The Australian
Slow down, defuse the rage, by Roberta Mancuso, Courier Mail, 14 December 2007,
Airline staff 'abused, spat on', by Lee Taylor, 10 October 2007, NEWS.com.au
Violence at work all the rage, The Age, 29 May 2004
Staff fear increased air rage on Jetstar, March 18, 2004
Airport rage all the rage, AAP, The Age, 21 October 2003