Cabin Crew Decision-Making and Conflict Management During Unruly Passenger Incidents: A Focused Systematic Review of Human Factors, Training, and Safety Implications

<title>Abstract</title> <p>Unruly passenger behaviour is a persistent safety concern in commercial aviation, managed largely through cabin crew judgement, communication, and coordination. McLinton et al. (2020) systematically reviewed the prevalence and characteristics of disruptive airline passenger behaviour through 2020 and found training evaluation and staff consequences under-represented. This focused systematic review extends that finding, identifying literature on cabin crew decision-making and conflict management during unruly passenger incidents, following PRISMA 2020. OpenAlex, PubMed/MEDLINE, and TRID were searched and supplemented by a targeted Google Scholar search, combining population (cabin crew, flight attendant), phenomenon (unruly passenger, air rage), and process terms (conflict management, de-escalation, situational awareness, non-technical skills, emotional labour, training). Of 224 records identified and 220 screened, 10 sources met inclusion criteria after full-text resolution (6 with an original empirical dataset; 4 conceptual, legal, or trade-press sources); 1 record remained unobtainable. Synthesis indicates unruly passenger incidents develop through early warning signs crew learn to recognise before formal thresholds are crossed; de-escalation is a graduated, communication-led, team-coordinated process rather than a discrete technique; and cumulative emotional labour, inconsistent consequences, and under-evaluated training compound around these incidents. An integrative conceptual synthesis connecting situational awareness, de-escalation, emotional load, training, and operational outcomes is proposed and presented as a review-derived framework, not a validated new model. Given the small evidence base and the absence of Scopus and Web of Science, findings are presented as a focused evidence synthesis rather than a comprehensive meta-analysis, with implications for aviation human factors research and training design discussed.</p>