Drunk/abusive passengers
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Drunk/abusive passengers
Having very recently experienced a very drunk and abusive passenger I am interested to hear what your crew would do and at what point. I was in D class as SLF and 1 passenger in particular was way out of control. Really loud, really bad language, abusive to others etc. Cabin crew supplied endless alcohol (beer etc + at least 10 bottles of wine) and appeared unaware of the discomfort of the other passengers. It was the last straw when said passenger went to the toilet for a smoke and cabin crew had to intervene. It did seem ( I do stress seem) that at no point was the a/c captain informed.
What would you have done as crew and what would you do as SLF?
What would you have done as crew and what would you do as SLF?
Join Date: Aug 2000
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How do you know the Captain was not informed? He would, of course, not attend personally. We have taken 8 cabin crew to restrain a transvestite, and even then they nearly lost it. It is no easy matter to forcibly restrain somebody against their will. It's possible that they plied this individual with alcohol in the hope it would cause rapid unconsciousness rather than leave him in an abusive, semi comatose state for hours. With the way they firmly drew the line at smoking, it looks to me like they handled a difficult decision in the best probable way.
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NSF - I did say that it SEEMED that the captain was not informed, he may well have been. I was interested in views of the best way to deal with such a situation, I would not have expected that pouring more alcohol in would have had the desired effect but I have no personal previous experiences like this so may well be wrong. A divert would have been OTT because of many factors I am sure, but this passenger was going to be trouble. It is fortunate the flight was relatively short so the problem terminated after about 3 hours. This may be what the crew was relying on. It is sad that the other fare paying passengers had to be subjected to such behaviour and the airline may well lose some travellers because of it.
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It's always a difficult call for the crew - since every incident is different, and I wasn't there, I can't give a definitive answer as to how well it was handled.
Just to reassure you, policy these days is that the Flight Crew NEVER leave the Flight Deck, especially so when an incident like this is in progress. It is likely that the CC kept the Captain in the loop on the interphone, not least because if the incident were to escalate to something more serious, an immediate diversion would be required (they like to know if this is a possibility as early as they can).
The only useful thing that I've learned over time about drunks, is to let older, more senior and more experienced crew deal with them: The kids tend to get it wrong and the whole thing can escalate very quickly. It is also important to keep an eye on surrounding customers, as they may eventually, if provoked, respond in kind, and then you're in trouble fast!
Itis an offence in law to be drunk on board an aircraft - although we tend to keep this up our sleeve, as if used too early, or at the wrong time, telling people this can inflame the situation.
You have my sympathy: Travelling as a pax with wife/mother/2 kids and the guy in front kicked off big time - Police attended, Beer can thrown at my mother, my kids in tears, frightened wife and I got punched andd abused. An interesting insight into this kind of incident from a passenger perspective - and it was no fun! On the few occasions where I've had a pap arrested on arrival, or have diverted to offload, the Cabin has invariably broken out in spontaneous applause when the drunk was removed. The trick iss not to lose sight of the majority of customers while resolving an issue with just one.
Hope this helps
Just to reassure you, policy these days is that the Flight Crew NEVER leave the Flight Deck, especially so when an incident like this is in progress. It is likely that the CC kept the Captain in the loop on the interphone, not least because if the incident were to escalate to something more serious, an immediate diversion would be required (they like to know if this is a possibility as early as they can).
The only useful thing that I've learned over time about drunks, is to let older, more senior and more experienced crew deal with them: The kids tend to get it wrong and the whole thing can escalate very quickly. It is also important to keep an eye on surrounding customers, as they may eventually, if provoked, respond in kind, and then you're in trouble fast!
Itis an offence in law to be drunk on board an aircraft - although we tend to keep this up our sleeve, as if used too early, or at the wrong time, telling people this can inflame the situation.
You have my sympathy: Travelling as a pax with wife/mother/2 kids and the guy in front kicked off big time - Police attended, Beer can thrown at my mother, my kids in tears, frightened wife and I got punched andd abused. An interesting insight into this kind of incident from a passenger perspective - and it was no fun! On the few occasions where I've had a pap arrested on arrival, or have diverted to offload, the Cabin has invariably broken out in spontaneous applause when the drunk was removed. The trick iss not to lose sight of the majority of customers while resolving an issue with just one.
Hope this helps
As SLF I've had the misfortune to encounter such an episode of disorderly conduct from a fellow passenger, whose supply of alcoholic beverages was aided by the CC. What got us riled up was the CC flirting with this abusive passenger. With not one single word of apology to the rest of us from any member of the crew. Indeed a couple of the CC went as far blaming a half a dozen of us lowly SLF for voicing our outrage at their complete lack of concern. And so yet another airline, boycotted. Few things make a flight more pleasant than the older CC, and few things make a flight as unpleasant as these youngsters now ever so popular in the European airlines.
