Drunk air passenger arrests up 50 per cent

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Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 45 total)

  • Mark Caswell
    Keymaster

    “…more than half of cabin crew who responded to a survey said they had witnessed disruptive drunken passenger behaviour at UK airports”.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40877229


    FDOS_UK
    Participant

    I loved this quote in the article

    Karen Dee, chief executive of the Airport Operators Association, said: “I don’t accept that the airports don’t sell alcohol responsibly. The sale of alcohol per se is not a problem. It’s the misuse of it and drinking to excess and then behaving badly.”

    A bit like arguing that guns are perfectly safe and should be sold freely, without control.


    capetonianm
    Participant

    I watched an interview on TV this morning with someone, probably the same person, and thought the same.

    I would gladly see on-board and pre-departure alcohol sales banned, and I enjoy a drink as much as any other reasonable person. As is so often the case, it’s a small and senseless minority spoiling it for everyone.


    canucklad
    Participant

    As you say capetonianm, it’s a small and senseless minority.
    But, I’d go further, the people I see behaving like this tend to be, moronic selfish idiots who tend to play of each other, exasperating the problem further.
    Take firm legal and financial actions against these dimwitted buffoons, letting them know about the consequences, before they actually start their nonsense.

    Why should the actions of the few, impact on my enjoyment. Why should I be penalised because these idiots aren’t.

    And point of fact, the SNP government is trying to pass a minimum pricing law on alcohol to stop retailers selling booze cheaply. Why should I miss out on wine deals and whatever else deals just because a very few of my compatriots feel the need to drink themselves legless–literally.
    And in reality, they would sadly continue do so, regardless of the cost

    There is nothing better than having a pint at 7.00 in the morning, with family and friends before jetting off on holiday. In fact, you can see the envy of some of the businessmen sitting around you, as they sip on their coffee, probably thinking to themselves or muttering under their breath …..”Lucky so and so’s”

    Personally I don’t think it’s the airport bar that’s the issue. Experience has taught me, that it’s the duty free sales that are the issue. .
    And it’s more complex than that. Someone on the radio, couldn’t understand why people could or would drink on the LCC’s (and now BA) because the price of the alcoholic drinks was so prohibitive..

    Easy peasy, you’re not stopped from bringing on board your own soft drinks.. Many a hen party has simply bought their plastic bottles of cola, headed to the loo, mixed the duty free into them and then merrily and then obnoxiously merrily drank themselves onto a stupor.


    capetonianm
    Participant

    Tonight’s Panorama on BBC1 is about this topic.

    Sign Zone: Plane Drunk – Panorama – 8.30pm

    Tina Daheley investigates the growing number of British passengers taking flights while inebriated, meeting whistleblowers from the airline industry who reveal just how badly our journeys are being disrupted. With new figures showing a rise in drink-related incidents and arrests, she asks how some airlines are fighting the problem and meets a Majorcan official sick of Brits arriving on her island already drunk


    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    During the day, I heard reports that Ryan were suggesting passengers be limited to 2 drinks at the airport pre boarding. No mention was made whether the airline would limit or stop alcohol sales during their flights.

    The point that came across the most during the press reporting and Panaroma programme, was alcohol = profits… I loved how startled Tina Daheley became when she came across alcohol being served by most of the retail outlets at airports including Starbucks…


    Tom Otley
    Keymaster

    The programme won’t tell you anything you didn’t know, I suspect, though some of the scenes of drunk passengers are very shocking (or just disgusting).

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09202lw

    I felt very sorry for the airport manager who was having to stand next to a drunk teenager as he urinated on the carpet in the airport gate area.


    Tom Otley
    Keymaster

    You can tell it’s the holiday season.

    This one is on Channel 4 tonight

    Flights from hell

    This shocking, surprising and entertaining documentary uses footage captured on passengers’ cameras and phones to reveal extreme behaviour in airports and on planes


    Poshgirl58
    Participant

    Interesting programme but thirty minutes not enough to explore this subject fully. Once airside, UK licensing laws do not apply so that’s how Starbucks can sell alcohol. Personally, I can’t see the attraction in drinking at 5am but each to their own provided they know when to stop.

    I can remember when duty free purchases were sealed in bags with printed tape (not to be opened during flight, or similar wording), boarding passes had to be shown and control of purchases was much stricter.

    It is a mindless minority in their own selfish world who don’t stop to think about the effect of their actions. However airports, retailers and airlines should all be working together to enforce alcohol limits with better training for their staff. The Government saying they can’t carry out inspections because of difficulty in gaining airside access is just an excuse.


    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    Interesting that in Dublin, within the USA Pre Clearance area, US licensing laws are in place, meaning that certain spirits need separate licensing and you need to be 21 years of age to drink.

    I wonder what would happen to the availability of alcohol post security, in the UK, if USA Pre Clearance was eventually in place here too….


    canucklad
    Participant

    Having watched Panorama, it re-enforces my opinions on a few subjects related to airport activities and has made me re-think my earlier contribution about moronic activity.

    In no way can I condone anti-social behaviour, but it has led me to consider alternative thinking on the subject matter…ie the moronic few ruining it for everybody else.

    1) Selling miniatures!! It’s a scandal, and there can’t be any justification for Duty Free shops selling wee bottles, and even worse promoting the 4 for 3 sale of the little bottles akin to a Woolies pick and mix counter.
    2) Pub chain’s that are clearly pushing their airport outlets to either replicate and/or compete with their Rochdale “out on a Saturday night” branch. Why would an airport bar sell a stein of lager to somebody, who will soon need to queue to board-then sit waiting for pushback – then endure the safety briefing and long taxi to take-off and finally block out thoughts of rivers, falls, baths and even dripping taps – as they desperately wait for the empty bladdered cockpit crew to release them from their greed fuelled purgatory.
    3) My most damming indictment I leave till last. The airline’s themselves, who through their own insatiable appetite to grow profit margins have created an environment (especially in Y) that makes falling asleep in these cabins almost impossible. Thus driving desperate passengers to try new and innovate solutions to grab rest on flights. Importantly not considering the physiological and physical consequences of not abstaining from what they currently do.

    As Poshgirl says, it’s more complex than just banning alcohol.


    esselle
    Participant

    How can the airlines blame the bars for allowing customers to “load up” before they board? They should be stopping them at the gate and deny them boarding…..except that on time departure would then become a thing of the past.


    Gin&Tonic
    Participant

    One of the issues is the lack of responsibility the ground handling agents take who are boarding the flight. Many a time I have seen drunk passengers staggering towards the gate , they are obviously unfit for travel but the gate staff just pass the probelem down the line to the cabin crew.


    esselle
    Participant

    Agreed, but the handling agents are contracted to the airline as a service provider, and the airline should therefore be more rigorous with them in enforcing the law (and it is law, rather than a code of conduct) which restricts intoxicated passengers from boarding an aircraft.


    capetonianm
    Participant

    enforcing the law …… which restricts intoxicated passengers from boarding an aircraft.
    Many a time I have seen drunk passengers staggering towards the gate , they are obviously unfit for travel.

    I agree entirely but the problem is in defining and enforcing the parameters. At what point do you determine that someone is too intoxicated/unfit to fly as a passenger without being a risk or nuisance to others?

    What, under such circumstances, is ‘reasonable’?

    There is also the problem of someone who was (apparently) sober when they checked in their baggage and went through security, and I feel this may be something for security to deal with, but then goes to the bar while waiting for departure and drinks themselves senseless. Even worse, I’ve seen people buying ‘duty free’ alcohol and necking it at the airport before departure, illegal but hard to enforce. You then have a gate agent who has to make a decision to deny boarding and face that conflict, and possibly remove their checked baggage, thus causing a delay

    The US system whereby you only take delivery of your airport purchases as you board would avoid that, I might take that a step further and say that they should be handed back to passengers when they disembark, or better still, that duty free sales should only take place on arrival, and not on departure, which would save airlines the cost and space involved in transporting the stuff.

    Of course the first prize would be no sales of alcohol at airports or on board. People who can afford to travel can afford to pay high street prices.

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