Holiday turbulence: Why December brings out the worst at 30,000 feet

A quarter-century of aviation data suggests there’s something about the holidays that pushes air travel — and tempers — to the brink.

A CBC News analysis of more than 340,000 aviation incidents shows that reports of disruptive passengers spike in December, making it the most fraught month of the year for bad behaviour on commercial flights.

Since 2000, roughly 2,400 such reports have been filed in December alone — not simply because more planes are in the sky, but because disruptive conduct makes up a larger share of reported incidents during the holiday season.

For flight crews, the pattern is no surprise.

Alia Hussain, an 18-year cabin crew veteran and president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees’ airline division, which represents WestJet and Encore flight attendants, told CBC that December is uniquely intense.

Packed cabins, tight connections and winter weather delays combine to create high-stress conditions — all while crews are tasked with keeping the peace at cruising altitude, she said. 

Bad flying behaviour

Transport Canada defines a disruptive passenger as anyone who “disrupts or threatens the normal operations of an aircraft.”

The resulting reports cover a wide spectrum of behaviour: refusing to follow landing procedures, smoking in washrooms, intoxication, shouting matches and, in the most serious cases, sexual assault.

The data shows the holiday effect isn’t just seasonal — it’s pinpointed. Christmas Day records the highest proportion of disruptive passenger reports of any day in December.

The figures come from the Civil Aviation Daily Occurrence Reporting System, a national database designed to track irregularities in Canadian airspace, from bird strikes to air traffic control errors.

Transport Canada publishes preliminary details of incidents involving Canadian-registered aircraft.

But the long-term trend offers some relief: overall reports of disruptive passengers have declined from their pandemic-era peak.

In 2022, Transport Canada logged 224 reports — the worst year on record — fuelled in part by mask-related confrontations. That number dropped to 176 last year, CBC News reports.

Still, the skies haven’t fully calmed.

“We continue to see more passengers with elevated stress levels, lower tolerance for delays or service limitations, and a greater willingness to challenge safety instructions,” Hussain told CBC News.

The prevalence of passengers recording confrontations on their phones, she added, often escalates already tense situations.

WestJet echoed those concerns with CBC, confirming a “significant increase in unruly guests” compared with pre-pandemic years.

Incidents cited include verbal abuse, refusal to follow regulations, property damage and even “life-threatening behaviours.”

Air Canada, by contrast, told the outlet that disruptive incidents on flights have remained stable and emphasized that such cases are rare relative to the volume of flights it operates each year.

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