Mo, used the handcuffs once in 20 years.
That was after all other options had been tried and had failed.
It's scary as hell to try and put them on a raging totally berserk passenger, and amazingly the guy kept on screaming and spitting and trying to bite for 9 hours solid.
Not sure how the liability works in other countries.
But in this case the perp sued both the company and myself for causing grievous (sp?) bodily harm, food deprivation & humiliation because I didn't unshackle him to use the toilet.
He lost on all counts.
The judge found it to be the passenger's own fault that I had been unable to double-lock the handcufs to prevent them from cutting into his wrists because the passengers refused to stand still and kept struggling.
As teh pax tried to bite everyone that came near him, the food deprivation claim also lacked credibility.
Lastly the request to use the toilet was dismissed as "ridiculous" by the judge.
Having a large number of pax willing to witness was a GREAT help. I was very happy I had taken the time to write down some names and phone numbers, even if my mind was hardly on administrative stuff at the time.
Would I use the handcuffs again?
You bet I would, but only after having tried everything else in the book!