TOKYO -- Japanese airlines are warning passengers they will be forcibly restrained for unruly behavior, a crackdown that already has resulted in one disruptive traveler being held in his seat with adhesive tape.
The country's leading airlines on Thursday reported that rowdy behavior by passengers more than doubled in 1999. In addition to violent acts, the 330 reported incidents last year included sexual harassment and drunkenness.Japan's three biggest carriers -- Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways and Japan Air System -- began telling customers in April that they will restrain any passenger who threatens others or refuses to heed orders from crew members.
In early April, flight attendants aboard a Japan Airlines flight from Osaka to Los Angeles bound a drunken man to his seat with adhesive tape after he refused to stop shouting and pushing passengers and crew, said JAL spokesman Yuji Fujita.
Other incidents included a passenger who secretly videotaped a female flight attendant using a camera hidden in his bag. Another man reportedly struck a flight attendant in the face after she chided him for groping a female passenger, the airlines said.
Airline officials said rowdiness among passengers has increased in recent years because more Japanese travel by air.
JAL, the nation's biggest airline, reported 100 incidents last year, Fujita said.
All Nippon Airways, the second-largest carrier, reported 190 cases in 1999, 2.5 times more than 1998, said ANA spokesman Hiroyuki Miyagawa.
Japan Air System said its crew reported 15 incidents last year, the first double-digit figure since the company began taking statistics in 1955.