Drunk on planes: People arrested has doubled in the last year
GETTY The number of travellers arrested for being drunk in flights has doubled in the last year
When he saw a stewardess talking to passengers he put his face close to hers and said: “I want a f****** drink.” He then turned his attentions to a Cypriot family, telling them: “You had better not be talking about me or I will knock you out,” adding: “Speak English, talk English!” Any traveller who voiced disapproval was rewarded with the words, “Shut up or I’ll smack you”. Keen to defuse the situation staff found him a seat at the back of the plane and, with the help of his friends physically restrained him there. But on the pretence of going to the lavatory he ran down the aisle towards the Cypriot family.
By now the crew had had enough and reported his “volatile, abusive and unpredictable” behaviour to the captain who decided to turn back over the North Sea and land at Manchester Airport so that the troublemaker could be ejected. When Strickland learned the news he was heard to say, “If they are doing this I might as well knock someone out.” His subsequent arrest was just one of 387 for alcohol-related offences at airports or on flights made last year, according to BBC One’s current affairs series Panorama, which screened an episode last night entitled Plane Drunk. This total represented an increase of 50 per cent on the previous year and has led to calls for a review of airport drinking regulations.
GETTY Many are topping up their pre-flight drinking when they order alcohol on board
Under the Licensing Act of 2003 normal alcohol restrictions do not apply at airports with the result that it is possible to buy drinks at any hour of the day or night from both bars, cafés and retailers.
It has become a total Wild West Industry source
About 270 million passengers passed through UK airports last year and travellers spent an estimated £300million on alcohol – a fifth of total retail sales. The result is that a growing number of passengers are topping up their pre-flight drinking when they order alcohol on board. A survey of 4,000 workers by the Unite trade union found that one in five cabin crew has been assaulted during a flight and more than half said that they had either experienced or witnessed verbal, sexual or physical harassment.
GETTY Travellers spent an estimated £300million on alcohol at airports last year
Ally Murphy, a former cabin crew manager for Virgin Airlines who quit her job last October after 14 years, told Panorama that she had been groped on several occasions by passengers. She added: “I was pulled into an Upper Class bed by a passenger who was feeling lucky. They touch your breasts, bum or legs. I have had hands going up my skirt before. It is rage-inducing and you should not have to deal with that.” One drunk woman threatened to open a plane’s doors in midair if she was not served more alcohol. Carola Conti, 26, was arrested at Heathrow in March when Malaysian Airlines’ flight from Kuala Lumpur landed in London. She was subsequently found guilty of entering an aircraft while drunk and behaving in a threatening and abusive manner.
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In a bid to reduce the incidence of drunken behaviour, the aviation industry introduced a voluntary code of conduct on disruptive passengers in July last year. Two provisions of the code call for its signatories to refuse to sell alcohol to people “they believe to be intoxicated” and retailers to “advise passengers not to open and consume alcohol before or during their flight”. But the Unite survey found that the vast majority of cabin crew considered it largely ineffectual. One anonymous crew member told Panorama: “The code of conduct is not working. We are seeing these incidents on a daily, a weekly, a monthly basis. It is the alcohol mainly in the duty free that is the significant problem.” And last month another industry source said: “It has become a total Wild West with people spending more time at airports ‘pre-loading’ on booze.
GETTY There were 387 alcohol-related offences at airports or on flights made last year