Interesting item in today's Air & Business Travel News:
AIR RAGE: A final word from Brian Walters, one time Lufthansa UK Sales Manager but more recently an airline journalist of distinction and now retired (he says).
"I fully support get tough moves but suspect that some ground staff are apt to pass the buck, only too glad to get rid of drunken passengers. In this litigious age airlines would need a prompt method of confirming
that passengers are drunk before boarding is denied. There is a Freudian aspect to the subject. On a flight to Vancouver several years ago, passengers in the row behind me were becoming rowdy (young males - too much beer). A five foot nothing BA hostess got them quiet in no time. Sensibly, a steward was not to be seen - otherwise a punch-up
might have resulted."
There is a moral to this story. You've got to get your cabin crew right. Hefty lads to shift the food trolleys and tiny girls to deal with unruly passengers. It is usually the other way around!