Drinking on Airplanes, going nuts and threatening to open the emergency exits and attacking crew or fellow passengers seems to have become a regular occurrence these days

[MickyMacgraw]

http://www.dailymail....t-attacking-crew.html

My question is do yo think that they will eventually stop drinking on flights and even airport bars for this reason?

[joggerjayne]

MM ... just asked you for some advice on that "supplements" thread.

Oh, and no ... they won't stop drinking on planes. I think the profit margins are too small on the tickets. The airlines need to sell alcohol.

[Gromit]

No, everybody make too much money out of it.

OK, so the odd plane has to divert occasionally, the passenger gets charged the landing fee. They probably make more money on inflight drinks than on the air ticket.

[ummmm]

I need it to sleep on long haul....

[ludwig]

Apparently alot of nutty behaviour on airplanes is because of a combination of drink and sedatives. People don't like flying so they take a couple of diazepam, and then they have a few drinks on board. Bad combination, so before you know it they're having a punch up with the aircrew.

[joko]

she had a stash...i doubt the staff would have served her with enough booze to get into that state...theyd have stopped welll before

[MickyMacgraw]

Well I hope the actions of a silly few don't spoil it for the rest of us, but then again they have stopped drinking on the London Underground so who knows.
Gromit just how much drinks do you think they sell, You make it sound like the whole aircraft has a bar down one side of it!

[ummmm]

Two each on a jumbo...that's a nice profit.

[murraymints]

on short haul why not ? if you can't go without for a few hours that is a problem. Long haul maybe to help sleep but even so ....

[MickyMacgraw]

Murraymints some of us like a tipple pre, on and post flight when we are going on holiday, It's makes a great atmosphere so why should we be penalized by the silly few that have taken medication and started drinking or by those that can't handle a few drinks?

[jake-the-peg]

You say it's a regular occurance because it makes the headlines and "hell in a handcart" is the default Mail editorial line.

This might interest you
http://www.skybrary.a...okshelf/books/955.pdf

This report analyses all the recorded passenger incidents - only 1% of diversions were due to drunk passengers Heart attacks were the most at 35%

And there's roughly one diversion per million passenger flights

So passenger diversions due to drunk passengers seems to be a 1 in ten million event.

Regular but not all that common

[anotheoldgit]

/// The 45-year-old British passenger had allegedly been drinking from a secret stash of alcohol on the Thomson Airways flight///

How did she get this 'secret stash of alcohol' on board the aircraft?

Says a lot for airport security, doesn't it?

[MickyMacgraw]

Probably duty free.

[237SJ]

Major scheduled airlines don`t charge for alcohol so they don`t make any money out of it. Passengers are not allowed to drink duty free on board so a passenger with a secret stash wouldn`t be called encouragement by the airline. It`s up to the staff on board to recognise when someone has had enough and refuse to serve them anymore. Interestingly, the majority of violent incidents and handcuffings on board involve women. People such as Peter Buck from REM occassionally go nuts and blame it on a combination of drink and prescription drugs but that`s usually a cop-out

[Loosehead]

AOG you are not prevented from having booze in your hand luggage, nowt to do with security.

No I don't beleive the vast majority should be banned from having a tipple just because of the occasional fruit cake. However there must be a better way of restraining the person rather than having to inconvenience the entire plane. I hope the airline and passangers sue for costs etc.

[Davethedog]

Loosehead yes you are prevented from having booze or any other liquid in your hand luggage over 100ml.

Aog that report was dated 2006 so suggests that it was prior to the liquid ban.

[237SJ]

Liquids are restricted until you are airside, then you can buy duty free liquid and carry it onto the aircraft

[Davethedog]

Yes thats true but thats duty free as Micky says.

[237SJ]

Sorry, you`ve lost me. It was the duty free in her hand luggage that the woman was drinking

[Davethedog]

I regard hand luggae as the stuff you take with you, as I understand does every airline.

Duty free is duty free not hand lugage not splitting hairs, but there is a difference.

[Loosehead]

she would not have been prevented from buying booze air side.