[air rage] media hype or reality

It's pretty obvious to some that I've been doing a fair bit of flying this year, not by choice.

I didn't see that much fractiousness in Russia, Italy nor even at Gatwick, which makes me wonder about this article:

One respondent noted: "I worked in Australian airports for Qantas in both domestic and international terminals. Recently, I have relocated to London ... I think the [worst] ground rage I ever encountered was at Qantas domestic Brisbane Airport. Hopefully, by the time I am ready to return to Oz the travelling public [will] have calmed down."

The thing is, most of these reports came out of Australia one from China and one from Argentina. What of the UK? Well, we have this and this but in terms of total numbers, I'm not so sure.

Perhaps it's more common in countries where the public expects levels of service of a high order but in somewhere like Italy, used to bureaucratic delays and failures, they seem better able to handle it psychologically.

Don't quote me - it's just a thought. Whilst speaking with a friend on this, he pointed out that the problem seems to be today that public officials and workers seem to go out of their way to be provocative, slack, inefficient and so on and then when a member of the public reacts angrily, he/she is immediately targetted as a troublemaker.

My friend also maintains that the British public will put up with this for a while longer and then someone is seriously going to be assassinated and a very un-British revolt is on the cards.

Worth thinking about.