> The rates of air rage skyrocketed during the COVID pandemic, but most of that was due to the mask mandate. What's puzzling regulators is that it hasn't droppe

> The rates of air rage skyrocketed during the COVID pandemic, but most of that was due to the mask mandate. What's puzzling regulators is that it hasn't dropped to pre-pandemic levels. According to University of Texas researchers the ever-shrinking personal space available might be a significant factor. It's so funny how everyone willfully ignores the elephant in the room: COVID causes serious neurological damage [1]. The shrinking personal space is a myth, at least in the timeframe we're looking at - airlines are flying whatever is remotely airworthy, no one sends a plane off for months of being reconfigured and upgraded (maybe except Lufthansa who have pushed their renovations so far that the aged interior is now seriously crippling their competitiveness). The planes are the same that were flying pre-COVID. > Transport Canada says the bad behavior sometimes starts before boarding. Earlier this year it reported an increase in the number of unruly and sometimes violent people in the security lines. It's considering adding a fine structure for passengers who abuse security agents. And that one is the second elephant: Of course people get unruly when they have to wait for delayed boarding, lose baggage and whatnot. During COVID many airports let staff go because they didn't have money, those people left the industry forever, and now they can't hire enough replacement staff - airports usually are outside of the cities, so long commute times, pay is shit, and bureaucracy is often a nightmare too(in Germany, everyone working on the airfield side has to pass a governmental, very extensive background check). Fines won't work, not when many people have to deal with lingering COVID aftereffects and service quality is dog shit. [1] https://theconversation.com/mounting-research-shows-that-covid-19-leaves-its-mark-on-the-brain-including-significant-drops-in-iq-scores-224216 https://theconversation.com/mounting-research-shows-that-cov...