Data from the United Kingdom's Civil Aviation Authority showed that air rage incidents among British passengers have tripled over the past five years. Pilots blamed the rise on plane delays which led bored and angry passengers to take up drinking as a way to pass the time, leading to inflight fights.
From January to March, the CAA recorded 601 air rage incidents, up by 32 percent from 458 cases logged for the first quarter of 2007. For the same period in 2003, only 214 such incidents were on record.