Cabin crew training to control disruptive airline passenger behavior: A cause for tourism concern?

This paper raises issues with respect to cabin crew training to enable the control of disruptive airline passenger behavior (DAPB). In-depth semi-structured interviews (N=8) were conducted with flight and cabin crew, and trainers. Template analysis provided a framework for the primary data. Most training courses were found to be too short, lacked realism and paid insufficient attention to learning styles. It was concluded that although longer and recurrent training courses better equipped cabin crew to deal with DAPB, there is no substitute for experiential learning which increases practical knowledge and skills application, hence increases confidence. The importance of training to defuse and de-escalate DAPB to enhance travel safety and security, and to alleviate tourism concern, is emphasized.