Looks like this idiot is causing mayhem for holiday makers, todays Orlando from Manchester is delayed because of the knock on delays the diversion caused.

Maybe its time to stop passengers bringing alcohol onto the aircraft and stopping the sales of Duty Free bottles on board.Stopping others who like a drink with their meal is for me not an option but some as this idiot spoil everything for others.
An Emirates flight had a drunken Brit arrested for saying he had a bomb on board because he was refused anymore alcohol.Both should be banned from flying for life no ifs no buts.(my opinion only)

I agree with everything Sanji says. Airlines and airports are more than happy to sell you virtually any amount of alcohol because it lines their pockets. Whilst I do think the amount of government intervention in this country is getting out of hand, I think this is one area where it would be completely justified.

If I was given the choice of being scared completely witless by the small minority if they "happen" to be on my flight or not being able to drink alcohol at all so the risk is removed, I know which I would choose.

Missing out on that glass of wine is not going to affect my life to any great extent (if it did I'd be contacting my doctor!!). Having a bad experience on a flight could prevent me from flying ever again which would mean no more holidays abroad.

Louise

we had listened to him for over 9 hours he did get a bit quieter as the flight went on, but I cant believe that the stewardess kept selling him alcohol?

I have some sympathy for the cabin crew because at the end of the day they are just employee's with a job description, and if it says they have to go down the aisle X amounts of times during the flight with the drinks trolley, then that's what they have to do, and depending on the circumstances, they will be the people in the front line taking all the abuse.

Sometimes they can be stuck between a rock and a hard place and they cannot always judge which way an intoxicated person is going to go, whilst we may have an idea how the people whom we know react to various levels of alcohol, we are all strangers to the cabin crew.
There are certain levels of intoxication and being a fine judge is not always easy, some drink themselves silly and after a certain amount of alcohol they drift into a semi-stupor state and sleep, others become loud and go through a state of euphoria, and then others hang on the imaginary line where they are an aggressive human time bomb waiting to explode.
All of them will be mentally impaired and one thing you can never tell a drunk, is that he/she has had enough because there is no logic running through their brain, and they've gone beyond recognising that they've had enough, and therefore they will continue to keep asking for more drink.
Also, when you've had a couple of drinks at sea level and the effects are double at altitude, the state or level of intoxication can "hit" you very quickly.

If you're the person who is going to refuse/tell an inebriated person that they can have no more alcohol, you can be faced immediately with an aggressive human bomb exploding, and then they lose what little control they have left, cross the line and cause havoc, so trying to judge the situation is extremely difficult and in some cases it may be better to keep supplying them with alcohol (depending on the length left of the flight)"¦.many who cause "air rage" are devoid of any memory of the incident and are totally ashamed when they've sobered up.

Sometimes "air rage" is not soley down to alcohol or the amount of alcohol that a person has consumed...there may be other factors like the interaction between drugs taken for " fear of flying" plus alcohol, plus the low oxygen levels in the cabin.
On their own, they cause no problems and general symptoms of feeling unwell, dizzy, headaches will be experienced, but together at altitude, it can be a recipe for disaster.
We've also got the added problem of nicotine withdrawal which can make the person very aggitated, I don't want to drift into a smokers versus drinkers debate, but it's worth mentioning that while smokers accept that it's unacceptable to smoke in a confined space full of aviation fuel, they cannot have a fix before the actual flight anymore...all these things will create a scenario for incidents of "air rage".

I find it totally unacceptable when an airline tell you that your safety is very important to them, and would we all please stop what we're doing and watch the safety video, and then 30 mins later come down with a concoction of spirits/alcohol.
Gawd help anyone who is sat next to someone half tanked up and unable to move quickly...it doesn't bear thinking about.

So, having said all that, IMO : if there was no alcohol, the problem wouldn't be there and life would be better for everyone.

Sanji

Yes of course that is very true that if you don't sell alcohol in the airports and on the plane the problem will virtually be over and done with.

But is that the solution? A very very tiny minority spoiling it for everybody else. A bit like the hastely introduced gun law after the Dunblane massacre that didn't really cure the gun problem and associateed deaths, simple because of one lunatic.

I can't see it happening. Just ban those that feel they have to misbehave on a plane from future travel and the message will get through soon enough.

That leaves the likes of me that enjoy a glass of wine with my dinner to carry on as normal. Why should I be penalised by the actions of one idiot.

Would you be happy if you were on benefits that these would be stopped for everybody because one person is making a false claim?

Mark

Would you be happy if you were on benefits that these would be stopped for everybody because one person is making a false claim?

Oh c'mon Mark, that's stretching it a bit far trying to compare a benefit (money/fr**d) with a drug that affects the brain and involves safety issues....I've never known anybody be scared witless from falsely claiming benefit, unless the DHSS were knocking on their door.... It's nearly as bad as comparing a cruise liner with a plane.
Is it one idiot.? Is it a minority? In the great scheme of things the ones that cause a diversion, it probably is, but what about those who don't cross the line and stay just the otherside of it.? they are far from being in the minority, you know the type I mean, they can't drag themselves out of the airport bar until the last minute, you lose your slot for take-off and they waltz on the plane intoxicated, loud, farting and belching, and if you have the misfortune to be seated next to them, there isn't a lot that you can do about it, apart from getting up every 5 minutes to let them go to the loo as the diuretic effects of alcohol kick in......they are far from in the minority....quite frankly, they are a danger to themselves, but I couldn't give a toss about them, the fact that they are a danger to ME, is all that I'm bothered about.

I can't see it happening

Mmm, I can't see it happening if it was left to the airline, they have double standards and break all their own safety rules, but neither the airline or the airports own the shops/bars in the airport, they are on lease and a bar can quite easily become another branch of Boots tomorow.
If Brussels says we jump...then we jump, so never say never.

You keep saying what about me.? well I'm saying what about me too.? why should I have to put up with it.? why should I have to tolerate someone pithed up in a confined space 35,000 feet up in the air with nowhere to move away from them.?..it wouldn't happen on a coach because you can't drink alcohol on a coach and guess what, people seem to manage several hours between stops without a drink, so I find it unbelieveable that people can't manage at least on short haul flights without a drink.
Sorry, it's a no no....I'm not anti drinking, my hubby drinks enough for both of us, and at times he's acts like a right :swear, but never when travelling by air and he abstains from alcohol the night before we fly.

Like he says....."I want a clear head and don't want to smell like a and act like a " because a drunk has no idea how they act, it's always someone else and never them that's the problem.

Sanji

Edit for typo error

......... and should something bad happen, a drunk will not be able to react quickly enough eg emergency evacuation of an aircraft, and will impede other people's safety too .........

......... and should something bad happen, a drunk will not be able to react quickly enough eg emergency evacuation of an aircraft, and will impede other people's safety too .........

Yep, you have to be physically fit to occupy the seats in the emergency rows, but it doesn't matter when they come down with the drinks trolley, if you're that pithed out of your head that you can't tell the difference between a toilet door and the emergency door.

Sanji

I realise that this can happen to planes originating from any country but it appears to happen more often to flights to and from the UK. In over 40years of travel I have only witnessed one obvious episode of drunkeness in the air and that was a few years ago on a charter flight from Gatwick to Acapulco, Mexico, when a fight broke out, we didn't have to make an emergency landing though, the crew sorted it out and the rest of the journey went without incident. But the people concerned must have been drinking before the flight to have been so drunk within such a short time after take off. I realise that I don't fly very often on Charter flights where the majority of passengers will be on holiday and perhaps in a different frame of mind than people flying on business or for different reasons on the scheduled airlines that I normally use.
Is this all part of the drink culture that seems to be so prevalent in the UK, flying on a pretty regular basis to and from airports in many countries I rarely see the sort of behaviour on Airports that I see in the UK, groups of loud( often foul mouthed) people in a state of inebriation about to board planes.
I do enjoy one glass of wine with my meals but although I hate the thought that by banning alcohol on planes and airports I would have to give up a small pleasure because of the behaviour of drunken Yobs I guess it would be a small price to pay to ensure the safety of passengers and crew.

My comparison was a little extreme and maybe a poor choice to explain why a small minority should spoil everything for the overall majority that are well behaved when having a drink. Small minorities have spoilt a lot of things for the vast majority on too many occasions in my opinion and this step would be yet another bit of intervention where adults are being treated like kids.

We're not going to agree on this but it was good to have a debate about it.

Mark

Totally agree with you Mark It's about time this minority were responcible for their own actions and thought about others. It'll never happen, but it's about time they did. It's not just air travel, it's the country as a whole.

Darren

Mark & Darren I agree.

Whilst I can see Sanji's point of view as well, I think its important that what is a nice start to a holiday for most people is not stopped for the sake of a few morons.

Mark

I am all for people enjoying themselves on holiday and having a drink at the airport,but at 6am in the morning?
Would these same folk be in their local at this hour?

many many years ago i ran a pub in london that was open at 6.30am to cater for the market employees. these people worked all night and were usually just finishing work at that time so they would all come in and have a pint.
we also got a fair mix of hospital staff, postmen, railway workers and even police who were on shift work.
we also got people popping in for a livener before heading off to do their normal day job, including bank workers.
so everyone is different and legislation should allow for this.
i don't drink at the airport, but believe i should be allowed to if i want to.
when i travelled by coach to spain, i would always have a beer with my breakfast, on arrival, because i could!

Ditto to that. I've flown once at 6 in the morning following the completion of a night shift at work. For me having a pint that time in the morning is like anybody else having a pint after work at 5 in the afternoon.

Mark

Surely time doesn't matter when you're on holiday does it? One reason I like to get away is to be free of the normal routine of the working day.

I think it was pointed out by Sanji that alcohol drank at ground level doubles its potency at altitude so although these folk who caused the plane to divert were drinking their duty free,it probably affected them more because they were in the air.
The folk I saw drinking at 6am at the airport had probably left home just after 4am and probably hadnt had much to eat so therefore the alcohol would go straight to their heads quicker than someone drinking on an afternoon after eating lunch.
The effects of the alcohol would then be more after they were airborne.
I worked night duty for over 30 years and I couldnt have drunk anything other than tea after my shift.

The fact is, 99% of people know how to control themselves, and probably 99.9% of flights won't contain one disruptive drunk. I fly quite often and have never seen anybody drunk onboard an aircraft. On my most recent flight, I had three cans of Strongbow - by doing so, I was able to drink the beverage that I wanted to drink, and First Choice were able to sell me a more expensive drink, thus boosting their onboard revenue. Nobody was harmed by me doing so, so there shouldn't be any reason to ban it.

If somebody can't control themselves after a few, then it is a problem with the person, not the drink. If somebody is clearly drunk prior to boarding, they will more than likely be denied access to the aircraft.

Believe me - it's not an "easy" option to refuse a passenger more alcohol in flight, or even to deny boarding when they arrive at the gate tanked up.
It's not a new problem either - over 20 years ago I had to go to court as a witness for a colleague (female) who had been decked by a drunken passenger, when she, quite correctly refused to accept him for travel at the gate. Police were there, but didn't react quickly enough - and then IMHO over-reacted to what they had failed to prevent.That was the tip of the iceberg of a stream of physical and verbal abuse I and the guys and girls on the ground (and in the air) are subjected to by the travelling public on an all-too regular basis.

Anxiety, "holiday mode", media induced bravado, the "I have rights" culture are just as culpable as alcohol.

And I've also been stuck in a window seat next to nice little old ladies more than tipsy and/or semi-conscious on one glass of wine, and probably a diazepam or two to calm flying nerves and wondered what would happen in an emergency evac

However I totally agree that booze is a pain in flight, not only in terms of its consumption in excess but also as a potentially hazardous material, AND a load of extra weight . When the low-costs and charters are cutting back everything possible to save fuel - WHY can't duty free be available solely on arrival to prevent the illicit drinking in flight - surely it would be a start....??