Anger in the Air: Combating the Air Rage Phenomenon

The new realities of airline travel came into full focus after the September 11 terrorist attacks. These horrific events escalated air rage incidents by 400%, but more importantly they put the entire airline industry under the spotlight. In subsequent years, the general public began to voice frustrations with the industry in very dramatic ways, a marked shift in consumer behavior from that of before 9/11. The International Transport Workers Federation responded with a call to action to bring about major changes to raise the airline industry to a level of service quality sufficient to meet the needs of 21st Century passengers. The quality of services that airline customers expect and the propensity toward air rage needs to be understood. Undoubtedly, some passengers are prone to air rage by factors in no way related to customer service. However, a better understanding of the customer's perception of service and airlines' offerings is one way of addressing the air rage crisis, combating the contributing factors long before they conspire to provoke a damaging incidence. Anger in the Air: Combating the Air Rage Phenomenon provides airlines with valuable input to help them better meet the service expectations of their customers and avoid instances of air rage on their flights. What do today's customers need and expect? What do airline customers perceive as the quality of services and how can the gap be closed between expectations and perceptions? The book addresses these key issues in five stages: 1.

Dr Joyce A. Hunter is an Associate Professor at Saint Xavier University's Graham School of Management in Chicago, Illinois where she teaches business marketing, promotional strategies, hospitality marketing and hospitality management. She earned her Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) with a concentration in marketing at Argosy University in Orange County, California in 2004 and a Master of Science degree in Integrated Marketing Communications at Roosevelt University in Chicago in 1997. Dr Hunter's work on air rage has been cited in the New York Times and she has presented papers on the air rage phenomenon at conferences around the world. Before entering academia, Dr Hunter learned about air rage first-hand from working more than 25 years at a major American airline. There she gained broad experience in professional marketing and became a leader in customer service as she rose from airline reservationist, ticket sales agent and administrator to sales promotion expert and a corporate account manager. She is also a Certified Travel Counselor (CTC) who has traveled extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Dr Hunter's research continues to focus on pinpointing the causes of passenger meltdowns, especially what she calls the "Triple-A Triggers" of rage: alcohol, anxiety and anger. Her findings have made Dr Hunter a staunch advocate for excellent customer service as a key strategy for reducing air rage.