Every other day there is news about yet another unruly passenger behaviour in the skies, more often than not resulting in an unscheduled landing by the pilot to deplane the misbehaving passenger. I watch with amusement and some trepidation, as social media and news agencies play up the news and try to get maximum leverage from the incident. As someone who has had some travelling experience in the good old days and more frequent flying these days, I see a distinct change in behaviour and attitudes towards staff and fellow passengers. I think back to another era, when air travel was considered privileged and classy and both passengers and flight staff were on their best behaviour. Passengers dressed in their best, were often seen off and met on arrival right up to the gates, at times, with bouquets. They were treated with courtesy both on ground and in the air. The airlines competed to serve delicious hot meals on board and treated their customers to freebies that included, lo and behold, cigarettes! The flight staff, mostly female, dressed and behaved like fashion models. They were trained to deal with passengers with loads of patience and accommodate requests to the best off their capacities. Children were patiently trained by their parents to be on their best behaviour and not to cause any disturbance in the plane or at the airport. Also the plane was more comfortable, more legroom to stretch out your tired legs and less people competing for the bathrooms. All that seems to have changed with plane travel now being accessible to almost everyone. Airlines are also in the competitive market, now that people are able to check prices on line for various flights. With that comes new challenges for airline personnel trying to deal with unruly kids and more often misbehaving adults. Lately there have been quite a few reports of airline staff and security wrestling with passengers, tying them up, handcuffing them and so on. I see with dismay, a growing disrespect for passengers from flight staff and vice versa. A lot of mitigating factors are contributing to this. Air travel is decidedly more uncomfortable, with crowded seats, less legroom, fewer washrooms as airlines compete for cheaper fares. Passenger behaviour is worsening and babies and children appear to be out of control and not monitored by their parents. Instead parents are indulgent and reward bad behaviour and expect fellow passengers to put up with their kids' tantrums. More is the woe on long haul flights, when restricted legroom and elbow room causes tempers to fly, again resulting in more work for the flight crew. It is time for airlines to look into this new trend and find measures to overhaul their seating, boarding and disembarking procedures to ease passenger discomfort and make air travel more pleasurable. For example, in some parts of the world, both doors of the plane are regularly used for passenger entry and exit. An area of the plane can be isolated for families with small children and passengers can be offered larger seats if they have an issue with size or disability. Also business passengers travelling individually can be offered seats for faster exit. And in the new age, maybe a seat or two to isolate and restrain unruly individuals!