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Change in the air: Fliers feel solidarity

Travelers must arrive earlier for departing flights due to new security procedures.

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- It ranked somewhere in significance behind Gary Condit and shark attacks in the summer news doldrums of 2001.

Fed up with overcrowded planes and delayed flights, impatient travelers were said to be taking out their frustrations in the skies in rowdy, sometimes abusive behavior.

But the issue dropped from the headlines after the September 11 hijackings, as "air rage" took on a whole new meaning and more dire aviation security issues moved to the forefront.

"I think the air rage phenomenon was a result of the fact that a lot of people were traveling during the height of the economic boom, and there were also too many airplanes chasing too few runways, particularly during the peak summer season," said Con Hitchcock, chairman of the consumer advisory board for the Orbitz travel Web site. An attorney, Hitchcock was an advocate for airline passengers at the Aviation Consumer Action Project and Public Citizen before coming to Orbitz.

Even if some passengers still feel overly stressed in the skies, he suggests, they may be more inclined to restrain themselves, lest someone does it instead.

EXTRA INFORMATION TIME: The Flight Attendants

"With added security on a plane, anyone who wants to stand up and act out may have a close encounter with a marshal, and a number of passengers not at all sympathetic with their position," he said.

Flight attendants also have seen a difference in travelers.

"I think that directly after 9/11 people were definitely very jumpy -- everyone who got up to use the restroom or get something out of their carry-on was considered a potential threat by passengers -- and attitudes were much better, more polite, etc.," said Dawn Deeks, a spokeswoman for the Association of Flight Attendants, in an e-mail interview with CNN.com. "While it has reverted back somewhat, I still think flight attendants would say most passengers are still on their best behavior."

More respect in the air

It's just one of the ways flying has changed -- in some cases even improved -- since September 11, frequent travelers say.

The training and hiring practices of airport security workers was changed after the attacks.

"There is no doubt that today's travelers are still more cooperative, friendly, respectful and aware as a whole, even after a year," said Bonnie M. Eadie, a Boston businesswoman who travels frequently.

While flying has become more complex, time-consuming and often stressful, thanks to added security measures, she said, the changed attitude of travelers helps counteract the drawbacks.

"I opt to think of air travel now as a more pleasurable, peaceful experience than it once was," she said.

As those stricter security measures were hastily put in place after September 11, travelers were encouraged to arrive at airports much earlier amid fears of long lines for screening. But those initial lengthy waits have diminished.

"The horror stories of security hassles are largely urban myth," said Chris Manno, a pilot with American Airlines and instructor at Texas Christian University. "You can clear security in Dallas-Fort Worth in a matter of minutes, especially if you pack and dress with some forethought."

Peter Shankman, a New York public relations executive who has flown more than 130 times over the last year, also detects a greater sense of camaraderie among passengers, and a determination to act if something goes wrong on board.

It's the "Let's roll" mentality, in recognition of the passengers on Flight 93 who apparently thwarted the hijackers' plans over Pennsylvania on September 11.

"I've definitely seen it, and I've talked to people on the plane about that, where we've said if something were to happen, yeah, we'd be up and we'd hit them with anything we had," he said.

More talking with fellow passengers

As general manager at Yahoo Travel, Kamie Cicinelli flies some 100,000 miles a year. She, too, has noticed passengers assuming more, as she puts it, "responsibility" in the skies.

Airport security has become a focus of new regulations and heated debate after the attacks.

"Rather than getting on the plane and getting self-absorbed, they balance that with being observant of what's going on with people's actions," she said. "I think it has just become a part of our new mode of traveling."

California-based travel writer Edward Hasbrouck detects more bonding on planes -- or at least more dialogue -- among passengers.

"Even on shorter flights these days, people are having the kinds of settling-in conversations you used to see if people were on transoceanic flights," he said.

"They want to talk so they can figure out, 'Is this person a terrorist or is this person someone who's going to fight the terrorist with me?'" he said.

Manno, the pilot, says the flight crews, too, have developed a "special bond" since September 11.

"And passengers and crew are definitely us against whomever might consider another attack against America," he said. "We won't any of us go quietly."