Even without mask mandates on flights, unruly passenger incidents remain elevated.

Industry experts have floated several possible explanations, from customers losing patience over the deteriorating flying experience to widespread delays and cancellations. “I’m not sure if there is an overall increase in a feeling of self-entitlement,” one analyst speculated, “or if people are, for some reason post-Covid, feeling more empowered to assert what authority or influence they believe they have.”