Videos of passengers losing their temper on planes and raging over arguments about armrests or window blinds are increasingly appearing on social networks. The British licensed psychologist explained to The Sun that there is a good reason for this behavior and the conflicts that arise.
Clinical psychologist Dr. Kate Mason notes that vacation planning is associated with great stress and time costs. It is necessary to organize flights and accommodation and decide on entertainment activities. After that, everyone hopes that the rest will go smoothly.
“People expect their vacations to be perfect and are therefore more likely to freak out if things don’t go according to plan. They feel frustrated if something goes wrong because so much effort has gone into the planning. For example, if you paid for a seat with extra legroom on an airplane, you expect to get it. But let’s say on the day you get on the plane, that seat isn’t available or there’s no space on the overhead shelf for your bag, then people can get annoyed,” Dr. Mason explained.
The situation was aggravated by the years of the pandemic when tourists did not have the opportunity to travel. Now the departure for them is a long-awaited event that should not spoil anything. Knowing this, some airlines include certain genres of music during boarding to keep passengers calm and relaxed.
David Scotland, manager of inflight entertainment and communications for Alaska Airlines, said: “We don’t want music to take center stage during boarding or be a distraction. But it should calm, complement and correspond to the atmosphere on the plane.”