[Anonymous]

[MartynSinclair]

This now is turning into more or less an every day / week occurrence. Surely the airlines must have an idea what is the primary cause….and start to find solutions.

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/easyjet-flight-from-glasgow-diverted-because-of-disruptive-passengers/ar-BBtkIf6?li=BBoPOOl&ocid=SKY2DHP

I know we, as fellow passengers will never be told (the security of the airline is at risk to disclose this information), why these incidents are on the increase, but it can not just be down to serving alcohol.

Is it also down to the fact the airlines are cramming more and more people into the available space – or perhaps the constant need to create revenue which may stress passengers…

Interested to hear what travellers (normal people) think could be the cause and why airlines aren’t doing more to find a way to stop these incidents. After all, it is costing them money and their passengers time….

[GivingupBA]

MartynSinclair, you asked, “Interested to hear what travellers (normal people) think could be the cause….”, my thinking is, excessive BOOZING by passengers.

(I agree with you though when you say “it can not just be down to serving alcohol”).

[HedgeFundFlyer]

I would be keen to know the stats for the last twenty years. The number of budget intra-European flights, the number of passengers on them and the number of incidents. Clearly the incident count is rising but I wonder if it is going up any faster than the number of cheap seats in the sky.

[Poshgirl58]

There are other reasons besides excessive alcohol consumption.

1. Fear of flying has been cited as a reason for poor in-flight behaviour. People may have taken medication and then reacted adversely to it, or just thought that getting on the aircraft would cure their fear

2. General lack of manners and respect for others, including the DYKWIA types who have a grossly inflated opinion of themselves and no claim to fame

3. People being obnoxious because it’s in their nature

4. Stress of being confined in a cramped metal tube for hours with complete strangers and lack of things to occupy you, unless you’ve given it some thought and taken book/mp3/dvd player.

Congratulations to the EasyJet captain for making this decision, which is within their remit if they consider the unacceptable behaviour is endangering the aircraft passengers and crew.

[MrMichael]

Smoking ban at Airports and onboard, turns me in to a raving monster!

[PeterCoultas]

whatever the reason great response from easy jet Captain- congratulations to him

[canucklad]

Wasn’t going to comment on this, but I’ve just listened to a report on Radio Scotland about the incident………

Missed clues by Easyjet …….

1) The main protagonist boarded the aircraft wearing high heels, a short skirt and a boon tube….
2) His pals bordered, resembling a drunken tarts day out, down the docks awaiting the U.S. fifth fleet……wearing bridesmaids sachs….
3) Before boarding, their joyous rambunctious happiness was noticed by Strahclydes finest.

So all in all they must have been demonstrating boy scout behaviour at the gate to be deemed suitable to fly on UK ‘registered airliner.

My own theory on the rise of such incidents is simply a combination of the following…….

1) Airfares now cheap enough it allows a demographic that’s more at home in an episode of Shameless rather than Downton Abbey.( I definitely notice the difference when flying from EDI and GLA – simply put the amount of football (old firm) tops on show, and not just the men.
2) The phenomenon of young inexperienced drinkers to consume very quickly shots, shots and more shots…with no consequence of price.
3) Social Media reducing the skill of personal interaction,yet at the same creating a platform to show off with perceived anominity, anti social behaviour and thus assuming that those same actions have no consequence.

My solution, jail the clowns and chase them for every last dime, and put them on a permanent no fly list.

[bluemooner]

The solution is I believe simple. Limit alcohol in airport bars to a maximum of X drinks. How do you do this, Each passenger must present a boarding pass at the bar. It gets stamped no more than X times. After that refusal to be served. Then on aircraft – maximum of Y drinks. I will leave the experts to decide what X and Y are.

[rferguson]

I feel the crew are responsible if they allowed that door to be closed when the passengers were obviously drunk on boarding.

Under the Air Navigation Order it is actually illegal to be drunk on an aircraft, They should have denied boarding.

Saying that, this is a scenario that i’ve seen before. With online/self service check in these days it’s most often that the first contact a passenger will have with an employee of the airline is at the gate. So if we consider a scenario where a few inebriated gents arrive at the aircraft ten minutes before departure whilst the ground staff are very much concentrated with getting the flight away on time they may feel it better to ‘chance it’ and ignore the issue or as most often happens pass it onto someone else (the crew). Punctuality is the holy grail of short haul carriers. Contract Ground Handlers are often paid bonuses or incentives based on their ‘ready to go’ record. And the crew are often ‘managed’ too. I’m sure that the crew didn’t want a delay ‘allocated to them’ whilst they denied the passengers boarding with the end result the inevitable time taken to get the passengers off after debate and rows, locate their bags etc etc. I guess in this scenario for every 500 times a situation like this arises maybe one will result in a diversion. And with the heavy handed ways that many airlines management are ‘managing’ crew related delays I can see how some crews just take a deep breath and hope for the best.

**My personal opinions only**

[Daytripper]

I fly weekly to Ibiza during the summer months, generally on early evening flights.

Ibiza is famous for having the rowdiest flights of any ex-UK destination, and many cabin crew privately admit to shuddering when they are rostered on these flights. I’ve regularly been on flights where over half the passengers spend the entire flight stood up in the aisles.

Most of my flights are on Easyjet. One of the first announcements on the tannoy is invariably that there is a special multi buy discount for purchasing multiple bottles/cans of beer/wine/cider. Get a special discount if you buy your booze in multiples.

So, in short, passengers are encouraged to get drunk just so that Easyjet can turn a profit.

Furthermore, most airport duty free shops sell half litre plastic bottles of spirits, often prominently displayed near the tills. Many travellers on flights to youth resorts buy these and tank themselves up during the flight. Again, this could easily be stopped if the airport duty frees stopped selling (easily concealed) half litre spirits bottles. But of course profit is more important than that.

[IanFromHKG]

It is much more complex than mere alcohol.

Take the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens, where alcohol is consumed in mind-boggling quantities, but violence is almost unknown.

Lack of entertainment? Hardly. When I first started flying we were given something a bit like a cheap stethoscope and half a dozen audio channels, and if we were really really lucky, a “main-screen” film – usually in very poor quality from an overhead projector where at least one of the colours was out of sync with the others. I don’t remember any complaints, let alone violence or unruly behaviour.

Fear of flying? I don’t think so. There may be a few rare exceptions but IMHO experience those who are afraid of flying are far too busy dealing with their own world of fear to worry about, or impinge upon, anyone more than two feet away (note, several members of my family have a real fear of flying).

If there was stress accompanied with being in a small metal tube with strangers, then I think there would be more incidents of “coach rage”.

I don’t deny that in many instances alcohol is a factor – and probably especially so in the coach vs. airplane example – but I think it is only one factor, and the major factor is a change in attitude. Sadly, the world is becoming a more yobbish place. And that may sound like a snobby comment, and perhaps it is, but I defy anyone to point to a more convincing explanation

[CathayLoyalist2]

On a recent Squeezy Jet flight LGW-ALC. There was a stag party and a hen party both unsuitably dressed. The final part of the onboard announcement. ‘We would like to remind the party goers this is an aircraft and not a playground. If you misbehave you will be arrested in arrival in Alicante. A loud ‘here here’ resonated around the cabin.

[Ah,Mr.Bond]

It is simple…. in most cases it’s budget airlines. With fares becoming lower and lower on these airlines it attracts a “certain sort” of clientel that may not have been able to afford a holiday before. This market has grown and grown over the years to become a rat infested problem in the sky.
These people are those you find on the Jeremy kyle show et all and have no knowledge of accaptable behaviour, spacial awareness or concern or consideration for anyone and with the sole intention of just getting P****d up on every day on their trip.
Questions have to be asked as to why BA are chasing the budget pricing model and risk filliing their aircraft up with this undesirable market.
I for one have never been on a budget carrier and have absolutely no intention to do so. Obviously some of you may travel on Easyjet for whatever reason and I am not saying all the pax are the same on these flights, but as a rule, looking at it the other way round, the Jeremy Kyle sector of society do not travel on major flag carriers where fares are a bit higher.

[canucklad]

I’m in no way a snob, but sadly I do have to agree with the sentiment above…….

Ian, you’re spot on, some of the sights, and the state of some of the folks at both the stadium and in Wan Chai in particular would beggar belief. Yet, all those people will board their QF/ BA/ CX flights and will be respectful to other passengers and crew .

And I’m not having a pop at Glasgow and the West of Scotland here, but rarely if ever do I see beer gutted middle aged men and woman wearing rangers and Celtic tops , displaying their tribalism when departing from EDI…… From GLA on the other hand !!!

So MrBond, I suppose Blackpool’s loss, is FReasy’s gain.

[Author]

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