A BBC television programme entitled ‘Plane Drunk’ has highlighted the significant increase in passengers behaving badly on flights out of UK airports after drinking heavily in airport terminals.

 

The ‘Panorama’ investigative programme was aired at peak time last night (20.30/14 August) where its Reporter, Tina Daheley revealed the growing concerns of some airlines where increased ‘air rage’ incidents onboard are leading to calls for even tougher penalties than already exist.

 

It is already a serious offence for a passenger to board an aircraft in a drunken state, or consume alcohol they have purchased on the ground. At the same time the programme suggested that more could be done to restrict these sales and inform passengers of the rules.

 

SMALLER BOTTLE SIZES MAY BECOME A PROBLEM…

It also highlighted the sale of alcohol on the airside at airports in miniatures and smaller bottles within duty free shops. At the same time it focused on the readily available impulse purchase displays of wines and beer sold routinely in other outlets such as snack bars, which do not routinely sell alcohol on the UK High Street.

 

In response to these and other issues raised by the programme, such as violent and threatening behaviour onboard aircraft, the UK Travel Retail Forum released a statement last night.

 

It said alcohol abuse is a huge problem that cannot be answered by retailers and airports alone. It commented: “The UK Travel Retail Forum supports every effort by our members, stakeholders, and law enforcement officers in tackling disruptive passengers.

 

“Passengers need to be educated that it is completely and utterly unacceptable to engage in abusive or disruptive behaviour on flights from UK airports, and that this will be met by zero tolerance by industry and by law enforcement officers.

 

UKTRF: ‘WORKING DIRECTLY WITH THE GOVERNMENT…’

“We have been working directly with the Government and other aviation stakeholders to do just that, and to ensure that the very few number of disruptive passengers do not spoil journeys for the 270 million passengers who travel from UK airports.

 

“UKTRF has proposed a number of measures to strengthen the Industry Code of Practice on disruptive passengers, such as the mandatory sharing of information between airlines on offenders, the need for stricter travel bans for offenders, and for such bans to be effective on all carriers operating from the UK.

 

“We look forward to agreeing these changes with the other signatories as soon as possible.” The statement follows some pretty unpalatable statistical claims made by the BBC’s investigation last night.

 

It claimed that the number of passengers arrested for being drunk and/or violent has risen by 50% to 387 at UK airports in the last year, with most mild to serious incidents occurring on UK flights bound for the Spanish resort destinations of Alicante, Ibiza and Palma Majorca.

 

UNHAPPY CABIN CREW

Cabin crew from several airlines also claimed to have been routinely insulted, assaulted and even sexually abused, while others pointed to the numerous empty duty free bottles strewn around aircraft seats after passengers had disembarked.

 

The programme also called upon several other interested parties to give their views on the issue, including Baroness Mcintosh, the Chairperson of the committee that helped introduced the voluntary Code of Practice last year.

 

She was distinctly unimpressed with the programme’s findings and acknowledged that the voluntary code has proved ineffective, adding that it was time for the Government to act.

 

It then emerged that the UK Home Office is already studying the recommendations of the House of Lords select committee’s report on the Licensing Act 2003, with a response expected quite shortly.

 

AIRPORTS AND RETAILERS IN THE FIRING LINE

Airports and retailers could also come under the spotlight a lot more as this issue continues to gather momentum.

 

Some parties in last night’s programme clearly accused them of putting money before common sense with regard to freely available alcohol in all bottle sizes.

 

The fact that most passengers drink entirely responsibly and some others are not even functioning on a ‘normal UK time’ did seem little lost on the programme’s makers, however.

 

It is also untrue that the industry is doing nothing about this and TRBusiness has been covering this issue for more than five years.

 

This magazine reported way back in November 2015 that UK airline Jet2.Com and World Duty Free were trialling tamper-proof bags for alcohol sales at Manchester and Glasgow airports to address ‘the growing industry-wide problem of disruptive passenger behaviour associated with air travel’.

 

JET2.COM HAS SET A GREAT EXAMPLE TO THE INDUSTRY

The UK low-cost carrier Jet2.Com has actually been at the forefront of this issue by working with duty free retailers to utilise tamper-proof bags as part of the ‘Onboard Together Programme’. This is aimed at finding solutions to unruly passenger behaviour onboard flights.

 

As reported by TRBusiness, Jet2.com has called for the creation of a national database containing the names and details of all proven rowdy passengers on all UK airlines.

 

It is also one of the few airlines – along with Ryanair and easyJet – that has introduced a ‘zero-tolerance’ policy towards passengers displaying bad behaviour towards cabin crew and/or fellow passengers.

 

It also constantly reminds anyone who will listen that it is already an offence under UK law to enter an aircraft whilst drunk, or to be drunk on board an aircraft.

 

Offenders can face a fine of up to £5,000 ($6,462) and up to two years in prison. Jet2 has also seen to it that some offenders on its aircraft have gone to court and subsequently been jailed.

 

Jet2.com Managing Director Phil Ward has always said that the airline is not in the business of spoiling anyone’s holiday, but disruptive passenger behaviour has increased and it is something the airline simply will not tolerate.