Traveler's Edition
A new study published on Monday revealed that just the presence of a First Class cabin on a plane is enough to increase the chance of an air rage incident in Economy Class fourfold!
It’s true that walking through First Class to get to your seat in Economy really isn’t the nicest way to start off a flight. Seeing passengers being served champagne and hot lemony towels… not to mention the leg room!
The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and is based on data collected by a large international airline over several years and thousands of flights. Authors agreed not to reveal the airline in return for the data to make the study.
Actual air rage is very rare but it does occur 1.58 times per 1,000 flights in Economy Class. Authors of the study found that the presence of a First Class cabin predicted the chances of air rage better than other factors like legroom, how wide the seats are and flight delays.
Lead study author Katherine DeCelles has a few recommendations for airlines following the study,
“I don’t think it is feasible to get rid of first class, and it’s not something the average customer expects, but the average customer expects to be treated well. One time I was in economy and they were baking chocolate chip cookies for the first-class passengers only. The smell came back and that was hard. Just anything they can do operationally to reduce that type of feeling would be helpful.”
It seems to us that the solution is quite simple: freshly baked chocolate chip cookies for everyone! Don’t get mad at First Class for getting champagne and cookies, just think about how much money you are saving with your cheap flight in Economy!
