I find it odd that travellers sitting in the open airport terminal hardly make small talk with each other unless they are complaining about the airline or the airport services.

However, in premium airport lounges, complete strangers engage in hearty conversations. Maybe the lounge environment loosens them up.

I was once engrossed in a chat about the innovative and refreshing Turkish Airlines adverts. We went on about Virgin Atlantic, Emirates and South West adverts and what we found memorable about them. That is until my phone rang, and the ringtone had everyone involved in the banter transfixed.

One of the most distinct and timeless airline theme songs in my opinion was written and produced by Matthew Peevers for Kenya Airways 25 years ago.

Whether it plays as a jingle on a commercial, a ringtone on a phone or during the boarding process, the composition never fails to elicit a strong sense of emotional association with the brand.

There are those who think the song is West African, others say its Zulu, some swear its Maasai and of course not forgetting those who say it is Scottish.

While for many, it brings back memories of the times when the airline truly was the pride of African skies. For me, the use of the song as a ringtone particularly when I am outside the country is more a patriotic issue.

Bad behaviour

Soon our talk quickly changed from airline commercials to Kenya Airways and finally to an incident involving a local airline in Kenya where certain individuals travelling in a group wanted the aircraft departure delayed for one of their colleagues held up in traffic.

For their unreasonable demand, the group was offloaded and detained by airport security.

Late last year, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) released a report showing a 50 per cent increase in what they termed “serious bad behaviour” from passengers.

Passengers behaving badly takes many forms ranging from being verbally and physically abusive, confrontational or outrightly violent due to inebriation.

What is alarming though, is an increasing number of passengers on both domestic and regional flights who feel they have a right to board commercial flights with their firearms.

In the US, authorities confiscated approximately 4,000 firearms in carry on baggage in 2017, an average of 10 guns a day.

Almost all countries in the world have one form or other of regulations on travelling with firearms drawn from the International Civil Aviation Organisation guidelines and local laws.

In the region, most regulators prohibit possession of firearms, ammunition, explosives or inflammable materials and weapons in airport premises except for law enforcement officers on duty, unless or where authorised in writing.

Most civil aviation laws allow the carrying of weapons on board by law enforcement officers and other authorised persons, for the performance of their duties.

The pilot in command of the flight must however be notified of the number of armed or unarmed escort persons, the individuals whom they are escorting and their seat locations in the aircraft.

When it comes to civilians carrying weapons, regional regulations leave the discretion to airlines.

Where an airline permits passengers to carry weapons, there are well laid out procedures for acceptance and provision for storage where they are inaccessible to passengers during flight, and in the case of a firearm, to ensure that it is not loaded.

Per IATA provisions, firearms and weapons fall in the Dangerous Goods category and must not be brought in by passengers or crew, as checked or carry-on baggage unless in accordance with guidelines.

However, due to weak enforcement by some authorities and airports in the region, the combination of unruly passengers with a sense of importance and entitlement and firearms aboard passenger flights is a ticking time bomb waiting to go off.

No matter your social status, complying with airline safety standards when it comes to firearms is a safe bet for incident-free flight.

Michael Otieno an aviation consultant and travel writer based in Nairobi. Twitter: @mosafariz; E-mail: [email protected]