Japan’s Narita airport gets tough on harassment by customers with new policy

One of Japan’s busiest airports has vowed to clamp down on customer harassment as it unveiled measures to tackle inappropriate behaviour and boost service quality.

Narita airport said awareness about the problem among passengers varied due to nationality or cultural background, prompting it to formulate a clear policy on the issue.

The rule, a first-of-its-kind in the country’s air hubs, defines customer harassment as actions that “harm the working environment of airport staff physically or psychologically”.

The guidelines were framed after businesses at the airport reported multiple instances of patrons losing their cool, including a traveller who berated an airline worker and demanded payment for missing their flight despite the employee not being at fault.

“Therefore, by clearly presenting our basic policy, we intend not only to secure the safety of airport staff but also to provide safety and security to airport users and provide even better services,” Narita International Airport Corporation said in a late October statement.

According to the airport operator, the facility handled 29.5 million passengers in the first nine months of the year.