Havoc at 35 Thousand feet. A debate for all.

Let me see, my last alcohol related passenger incident was just 10 days ago! Unfortunately as that passenger is still yet to try to return (and discover that they are now subject to a travelling ban) I’d better not go into it too much…yet!

Originally posted by wysiwyg
That one happened last summer. It got brought back up again by the press last week.

anything happend on your TCX flights wys or any other pilots on the forum for that fact.

Originally posted by DarrenBe
Seriously though, it would depend on what they actually did. There are far too many variables invloved to have a ‘one size fits all’ punishment.

Yes… you can’t afford to generalise and stereotype passengers. People unfortunately are people and all types of people have a nasty side when stimulated, not just sports fans or those we like to write off as pressure cookers.

As much as we all enjoy flying and it’s various aspects, for many people it still induces high levels of stress, tiredness and discomfort. Stress, tiredness and discomfort can cause people to act in strange ways, especially when that head chemistry turns to euphoria upon the introduction of alcohol or other substances to the general equation.

Personally I think these factors may heavily contribute to the cause of such so called air rage disturbances, and yes particularly when those factors are appeased by alcohol or whatever ?

I imagine the vast majority of “air ragers” may regret being so bloody stupid, it’s certainly a subject that merits a little more research and a little less generalisation of characters ?

That one happened last summer. It got brought back up again by the press last week.

This happend last week on wednesday:
On a Thomas cook flight a Man was just sitting there and they were on approach to Manchester and he undid his seatbelt and shouted “we’re all gonna die!”and started to open the door,a stewardess grabbed him and pinned him to the floor untill the plane landed and then she got rewarded!I bet the passengers were scared as hell!
skylinerworld.

No the crew do not serve too much.We keep a very close eye on how much passengers have consumed.If we consider they have had too much then no more will be served.The main problem is the bar in the terminal however on boarding we have the right to refuse travel if we consider they have had too much to drink.The main problem is when passengers start drinking their own and try be sneaky about.Its hard for the crew to keep an eye out for it whilst being busy at the same time.However most people make it that obvious and get six cokes with lots of ice between lets between two of them and then when you move off the heads drop behind the seat and you know that their up to something.But its very hard to enforce on a busy flight with so may people.Many a time ive found a empty spirit bottle in a seat pocket.But the crew do try keep their best.

Although air rage has a lot of alcohol induced problems, not all of them are. As you say purser until you are in that position you may totally change your view.

One story that springs to mind is when one of our companies stewardess’ was physically grabbed by a passenger when a sub-charter was being operated about 5 years back out of Belfast city on behalf of a major carrier. The passenger then stated something along the lines of “every time you operate this service it’s late” – but not in quite such a way. The passenger was offloaded and asked what provoked the reastion. It turned out that 3 times in a month his particular flight had been delayed due tech aircraft and other operators had been sourced. The representative (handling agent) had then told the passenger that the fault due the subchartered company i.e. us. This was a get-out clause so that inncident didn’t look bad to themselves.

The passenger failed to realised that a phone call was recieved at 6.45 by the other operators ops dept that their ATP aircraft was u/s. We had to dispatch an a/c from LPL to BHD to operate the service asap and i believe a 8.45 departure was achieved – this calling crews in off stby etc to posn the a/c to BHD and operate. In many circumstases the passengers do not realise the scenario which has led to a delayed departure etc – i believe this does not always lie with the airline, but handling agents. They often do not tell the passengers enough information, and basically lie – do you wonder why passengers get frustrated?

They don’t have to disclose the whole story, but if they are straight and tell the pax that there is a technical problem and another aircraft has had to be sourced to operate the flight then they may be more understanding!!!

Originally posted by EGNM
Bemused – just wondering – how would you intend on making sure a sports fan doesn’t book himself/herself on a scheduled flight? I’m sure for example when Newcastle played Palma Easyjet will have carried a fair few footy punters, and they will have booked on the web – how can you stop that? I’m pritty certain that these incidents are quite isolated, and in many cases as with incidents involving aircraft, blown out of proportion fairly regularly by the media.

Take last Monday for example. The early morning arrival of the Ryanair flight into Liverpool must have had 40+ Irish based Liverpool supporters onboard, most of whom will have stayed overnight and spent 2 days in Liverpool with it been the bank holiday weekend – these are sports fans going to watch there club – whats the differance?

I’m not hear to provide answers. I just started a topic for discussion, thats all.

Originally posted by Flood

Not an answer but an observation – the airlines bring it upon themselves by serving alcohol on board… No drink: no aggressive behavour. Yes?

Do airlines really serve that much alcohol on board to allow the passenger/s to get drunk? Surely cabin crew have a right not to serve passengers with alcohol if they have already had a lot to drink?

adam

I’m sure there are many people like me, who having boarded the aircraft at the beginning of the holiday, enjoy being able to relax, have a drink, and cease to worry about overweight baggage, lost ticket/passport,missed connections,etc. That alcoholic drink really goes down well!
However, the whole situation is going to be spoiled if we find ourselves surrounded by drunks. (and I’m not whiter than white – I used to play Rugby too).
So the bottom line is – sad as it may be, no booze on the aircraft and a breath test before boarding.
But it won’t happen, will it?;)

Originally posted by Flood
Not an answer but an observation – the airlines bring it upon themselves by serving alcohol on board… No drink: no aggressive behavour. Yes?

I can’t disagree with what you say, Flood…but the problem is that if my charter airline stopped serving alcohol tomorrow and the rest continued, we’d go bust in weeks. In essence it’s the right thing to do but also commercial suicide. On that basis, if you were the MD would you do it?

Agree Softlad, an example should be made of anyone endangering the safety of an aircraft. Unfortunately, until there is an accident caused as a direct result of air rage, nothing will change.

That thug “Vinnie I can have you killed for £5000.00 Jones” idiot should have been locked up. What a complete moron. Until you have been in a situation whereby somebody is threatening you in the confined space of a metal tube at 35,000 feet, I don’t think the judges appreciate just how frightening that can be. There is nowhere to escape to. It’s not happened to me but I can imagine it wouldn’t be very pleasant.

Purser

Bemused – just wondering – how would you intend on making sure a sports fan doesn’t book himself/herself on a scheduled flight? I’m sure for example when Newcastle played Palma Easyjet will have carried a fair few footy punters, and they will have booked on the web – how can you stop that? I’m pritty certain that these incidents are quite isolated, and in many cases as with incidents involving aircraft, blown out of proportion fairly regularly by the media.

Take last Monday for example. The early morning arrival of the Ryanair flight into Liverpool must have had 40+ Irish based Liverpool supporters onboard, most of whom will have stayed overnight and spent 2 days in Liverpool with it been the bank holiday weekend – these are sports fans going to watch there club – whats the differance?

I think that an example should be made from these idiots. Two instances recently that really annoyed me.First being that New York cabbie who had a crew member by the throat and was trying to open an exit.The other being Vinnie Jones who slapped some people and was very abusive.Both of these very high profile but both got let off without much more than a slap on the hand.For me i would have given a short prison sentance to make an example of the idiots.All we seen to see in the papers at the moment is air rage and its getting more and more because they are getting away from it.Going on to the second point if a group of sports fans are going to be on an a/c then booze should be removed wherever possible.Mabye even having a breath test before boarding the a/c.As for just having a group of roudy football fans on i dont think any crew would be happy to take them.Anyway rant over ill let someone else have a say.

Not an answer but an observation – the airlines bring it upon themselves by serving alcohol on board… No drink: no aggressive behavour. Yes?

Flood.