I was on a flight from Melbourne to Darwin the other day and there was a young lady who was somewhat affected by something, not sure what however her behaviour and language was quite abnormal, even before we got in the air.

Once we got airborne, I had a few words to the cabin crew about the lady whom they were certainly aware of. The lady calmed down for most of the flight and flared up again as we approached Darwin. Subsequently no problems, however there was an opportunity to return to the gate in Melbourne to have her offloaded IMHO. I have no idea what the flight crew knew, however if I was the Captain and knew how this lady was behaving before we departed I would have had her removed.

I haven’t contacted the airline with regards to this event, however I’m pretty sure the cabin crew would have reported this event through their normal reporting SMS/SOPs.

Any comments?

Was she violent or non-compliant?

If not, then I’d expect the cabin manager to manage it as he/she saw fit. You can’t just go and offload someone because you think they’re a nuisance. Otherwise there’d be people getting offloaded every second flight!

The Capt has that authority and can offload anyone he/she sees fit!

Of course they do. But there’s a difference between a power trip and a necessary offload.

Just because someone is being a bit disruptive it doesn’t mean they’re any more likely to become violent or non-compliant than the person in (insert random seat number here).

I trust my crews to handle all situations under their responsibility and then when they require my assistance or provide me with information that concerns me about the safety of the aircraft and it’s crew or passengers, I will make a decision to offload.

Well then if you were that concerned why didn’t you say something?

I did say something to the Cabin Crew Morno without making an issue of it.

I’m no expert on human behaviour, however the behaviour was nothing I have ever seen anywhere let alone on an aeroplane. Having said that I was confident that she would have been able to be controlled should things have gotten out of hand considering the other passengers seated near her.

This carrier has a poor history of handling these situations. Hate to be critical but the JQ ground team especially, and CC have made the news here and across the ditch on regular occasions for what the appears to be, the lack of training of handling such situations. Whether it’s mobility related, disruptive people, they just don’t know how to handle it.

All the flight crew do is be informed then offload. It’s getting to that point where things go wrong or have no structured way of getting to that point.

Usually stems from no guidance or training from HQ

File a complaint against the flight number with lack of action from cabin crew and I’m sure it will be dealt with.

Ohhh here we go, out come the macho power tripping captains who always know best.

Ever considered not using a sledgehammer and perhaps a measured, thought out response that a good pilot in command will use?

I have purposely not mentioned the airline as I was only asking for advice. Thanks for the comments.

I have offloaded a passenger before based on the CM’s opinion/ reports and on reflection thought that a different CM would have been able to keep things calm and under control. The Captain is kinda hamstrung though because if you don’t back up your CM you have a different issue to deal with. Also, it is rare that the Captain can make their own assessment. Probably worth pointing out that I’ve offloaded others based on CM reports and it was definitely the best option.