My Take | Only mainlanders responsible for air rage? When pigs fly

In an era of mass air transportation and tight travel space, you get air rage incidents every day. Everyone gets upset on a plane at one time or another, so race, ethnicity, nationality or celebrity status hardly matters. But somehow, we in Hong Kong, and by that I include my own newspaper, have decided that every such incident involving unruly mainland travellers, even if it's run-of-the-mill non-story like the mainland couple who got kicked off a Cathay plane because their three-year-old wouldn't buckle up, is a newsworthy item.

That makes it look like only mainland Chinese are prone to on-air misbehaviour.

So let me tell you a story about this mainland peasant - ha ha! - who insisted on travelling with his pig. The animal defecated, howled and rushed down an aisle, knocking down passengers and had to be forcibly removed from the plane.

Well, that is actually a true story except it happened last November in the US aboard an US Airways flight. A woman passenger was allowed to bring her pig on board as an "emotional support animal" under US Department of Transportation guidelines. Unfortunately, the animal became very disruptive, including answering the call of nature, and had to be removed.

Oh, how about that infamous first-time Chinese passenger on board a domestic flight from Hangzhou to Chengdu who yanked open an emergency exit "to get some fresh air" because "doors don't matter". At least he was an inexperienced traveller.

In August 2010, JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater claimed on the plane's public address system that he was being abused by a passenger and that he would quit. He grabbed two beers and took off by deploying an evacuation slide from an exit door. A police SWAT team arrested him at his home.