Food, booze service to blame for rise in passenger misbehaviour, union says

After more than a year of bare-bones in-flight service due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadians travelling by air can once again enjoy snacks, hot meals or a glass of wine on the plane.

But this return to some degree of normalcy -- while welcomed by many -- is also making it harder for airlines to enforce rules around mask-wearing and may be contributing to a recent uptick in unruly passenger behaviour, according to a flight attendants' union.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees -- which represents more than 15,000 flight attendants at nine different Canadian airlines, including WestJet, Air Canada and Transat -- says passenger disobedience, rudeness and aggressive behaviour is on the rise and jeopardizing the health and well-being of airline employees.

CUPE National senior officer for health and safety Troy Winters said many of the problems stem from passengers who refuse to obey the federal requirement to wear a face mask on board, a problem he said has gotten worse since the summer, when airlines began reintroducing food and beverage service.

"Even before they brought back the return to some level of service, we'd have people who would bring on a coffee. And then they'd sit there, and they'd sip that coffee for an hour and a half," Winters said. "This has kind of been the trick people have been using to not wear their masks on the plane since the mandate was introduced, so restoring food and beverage service has definitely made it worse."