Monarch Dump Drunken Passenger on Island ( Merged)
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I was waiting at a departure gate in the USA recently for my Virgin flight back to Heathrow, when I noticed a fairly obviously drunk passenger a few yards away. He wasn't being a nuisance or abusive but I hoped that he didn't have a seat anywhere near mine on the aircraft. I considered bringing it to the ground staff's attention, but to be honest, it wasn't too difficult to spot. Then I noticed a couple of 'robust' male "passengers" nonchalantly positioning themselves either side of him at a respectful distance - there was already a space between him and the other passengers. My curiosity aroused, I wondered how this was going to work. So I stayed some distance behind him in the queue when we were called forward.
When he handed his passport and boarding card to the female at the gate, she turned and passed it, without any hesitation, to a male member of the Ground Staff standing beside her. He then escorted the passenger through a door at the side of him - the 2 other "passengers" followed behind. I didn't see him again - it was all very slick and I was impressed.
Trouble is that Ground Staff often aren't firm (or experienced ) enough and can't wait to offload the problem on to the CC . ( Discuss !!)
When he handed his passport and boarding card to the female at the gate, she turned and passed it, without any hesitation, to a male member of the Ground Staff standing beside her. He then escorted the passenger through a door at the side of him - the 2 other "passengers" followed behind. I didn't see him again - it was all very slick and I was impressed.
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Whilst 99.9% of such incidents are due to alcohol, this guy was deemed 'fit to fly' on departure. Most bottles of wine on an aircraft are equiv to 2 glasses and he was refused a second bottle. Whether he had a personal stash of alcohol is unknown. Maybe he was just an anti-social Brit, maybe he couldn't handle his drink or had a fear of flying requiring an alcohol anaesthetic.
Could the cabin crew have confined him to his seat to minimise risk to aircraft & passengers, all aircraft should now carry suitable restraints.
All flights are non-smoking, maybe they should be alcohol free, with passengers breathalysed at the departure gate.
Uncontrolled swearing can be due to Tourettes Syndrome a medical condition.
Abusive / aggressive behaviour can be an indication of early hypoglycaemia prior to diabetic coma, cabin crew are not Drs so I prefer to think the Captain responded to a potential medical emergency.
Air Rage is serious & Monarch is a UK airline so the guy should be prosecuted in the UK so the facts can be established
It couldn't happen with Ryanair as their Policy is not to allow any passenger to disembark if the aircraft is diverted as it is 'against the Law (of cost)'
Could the cabin crew have confined him to his seat to minimise risk to aircraft & passengers, all aircraft should now carry suitable restraints.
All flights are non-smoking, maybe they should be alcohol free, with passengers breathalysed at the departure gate.
Uncontrolled swearing can be due to Tourettes Syndrome a medical condition.
Abusive / aggressive behaviour can be an indication of early hypoglycaemia prior to diabetic coma, cabin crew are not Drs so I prefer to think the Captain responded to a potential medical emergency.
Air Rage is serious & Monarch is a UK airline so the guy should be prosecuted in the UK so the facts can be established
It couldn't happen with Ryanair as their Policy is not to allow any passenger to disembark if the aircraft is diverted as it is 'against the Law (of cost)'
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Airbus pilot maroons drunken passenger on desert island
Airbus pilot maroons drunken passenger on desert island
By Nigel Bunyan
(Filed: 30/12/2005)
A drunken holidaymaker has been dumped on a desert island after launching a foul-mouthed tirade at the crew of a passenger jet.
The unwilling Robinson Crusoe will only be able to leave Porto Santo, a tiny patch of land off the North African coast, if he books a two-and-a-half hour ferry trip to Madeira. He will then have to book a flight to his intended destination, Tenerife, or return to Britain.
Monarch Airlines has yet to decide whether to sue him for the cost of the unscheduled diversion, estimated at "many thousands of pounds".
The unnamed passenger's difficulties began on Tuesday evening at 35,000 ft when he began abusing the cabin crew of flight ZB558 from Manchester. He refused to calm down and then turned his attention to the other 210 passengers.
Eventually the pilot decided that he posed a risk to safety and had to be removed.
Rather than continue for a further 45 minutes to Tenerife he diverted his Airbus A321 to Porto Santo. Within moments of the plane touching down the passenger was escorted to the terminal. Last night he remained a castaway on the Portuguese-controlled island. His New Year home is a mere 10 miles long by three miles wide with a population of 4,000. There is little entertainment apart from walking on the sand dunes.
Porto Santo's only cultural claim to fame is to have been the place where Christopher Columbus met his wife, the then governor's daughter.
Jo Robertson, of Monarch, refused to name the drunken passenger. She said that he was asked to sign a form admitting his disruptive behaviour, but had refused.
Despite enduring a four-hour delay, other passengers were "fully supportive" of the decision to dump the man.
Last night it was unclear either how or when he would return to Britain.
"He certainly won't be flying back with us," said Miss Robertson
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.../ixportal.html
By Nigel Bunyan
(Filed: 30/12/2005)
A drunken holidaymaker has been dumped on a desert island after launching a foul-mouthed tirade at the crew of a passenger jet.
The unwilling Robinson Crusoe will only be able to leave Porto Santo, a tiny patch of land off the North African coast, if he books a two-and-a-half hour ferry trip to Madeira. He will then have to book a flight to his intended destination, Tenerife, or return to Britain.
Monarch Airlines has yet to decide whether to sue him for the cost of the unscheduled diversion, estimated at "many thousands of pounds".
The unnamed passenger's difficulties began on Tuesday evening at 35,000 ft when he began abusing the cabin crew of flight ZB558 from Manchester. He refused to calm down and then turned his attention to the other 210 passengers.
Eventually the pilot decided that he posed a risk to safety and had to be removed.
Rather than continue for a further 45 minutes to Tenerife he diverted his Airbus A321 to Porto Santo. Within moments of the plane touching down the passenger was escorted to the terminal. Last night he remained a castaway on the Portuguese-controlled island. His New Year home is a mere 10 miles long by three miles wide with a population of 4,000. There is little entertainment apart from walking on the sand dunes.
Porto Santo's only cultural claim to fame is to have been the place where Christopher Columbus met his wife, the then governor's daughter.
Jo Robertson, of Monarch, refused to name the drunken passenger. She said that he was asked to sign a form admitting his disruptive behaviour, but had refused.
Despite enduring a four-hour delay, other passengers were "fully supportive" of the decision to dump the man.
Last night it was unclear either how or when he would return to Britain.
"He certainly won't be flying back with us," said Miss Robertson
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.../ixportal.html
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While not wanting to to question the judgement of the Captain but diversion to tiny island 45 minutes from destination seems somewhat extreme for a case of foul-mouthed tirade. Perhaps PA announcement Sumo wrestlers may have produced the desired outcome though I guess the learned friends may advise against. 
Props are for boats!
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Well done to the Captain, nice to have an alternate option enroute for Village Idiots. Well done to the Cabin Crew aswell. Reminds fo the days I used to leave half Tanked locals at the Mataranka Pub that wanted to go back to YNGU.
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Both reports only give the Monarch view of what happened. Would be interesting to hear accounts from other passengers on the flight.
How they felt about the four hour delay caused by the diversion especially due to the small distance involved to original destination?
Maybe it would have been more prudence to continue to destination and deal with the problem there!
How they felt about the four hour delay caused by the diversion especially due to the small distance involved to original destination?
Maybe it would have been more prudence to continue to destination and deal with the problem there!
OK only 45 mins. from destination , if he had continued this idiot would have reached his deatination and maybe had an interview with the police .....and then had his holiday (in a bar ?) . However he is now greatly inconvenienced , will have to spend his holiday trying to get home at much expense AND all those other idiots who do this type of thing will maybe also learn something from the Mirror/Sun and not attempt a repeat performance . At last someone has taken effective action , in my view .
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Due to the pressures brought to bear by the LoCos, many European airlines have cut staffing to the bone to be able to match the LoCo ticketfares and still stay in business.
This translates to for example minimally trained and very young (young=cheap slalary wise) Gate Agents, often only 2 of them to board a flight of several 100 passengers. The GAs are more often than not under severe pressure to get the fligth away on time. Struggling with a number of complex issues and working their butts off to get the numbers to match, it is not easy for them to spot the few inebriated pax. Who BTW KNOW that they have to pretend to be sober so they put on an act
Once on the aircraft, there is the Minimum Required Cabin Crew. It's safe acc to JAR OPS, but the CC are spread very thinly on the ground.
Their window to spot the drunk is small. From the moment he appears at the door until he has been told where his seat is. A few seconds.
Again, the pax know this, and try their damnedest to appear sober. The No1/Purser at the door is not only wlecoming the pax (s)he is also keeping an eye out for oversized/too much handluggage, in touch with catering about missing meals, in touch with the cockpit about the progress of the boarding, dealing with double seatings in the cabin, making announcements to see if that missing pap is onboard etc etc etc.
The chances of a drunk getting onboard are better than they should be. The flip side of cost saving.
I catch a few every month despite the above because, having been beaten up by a drunk in the past, I am a tad obsessive about weeding them out.
So now we have the scenario where you are confronted with a drunk pap. The rules/ANO says you can't fly them. Reality says that 50% of drunk pax falls asleep b4 the wheels are up and are no problem. It's the other 50% you have to worry about. So in which 50% does your manny belong?
Make a decision quick, because your flight needs to leave, preferably on time. There's whose connections can get disrupted if you decide to unload the lush. The Captain wants to know what you decide ASAP in case he has to get the holds reopened to find the drunk's luggage and in case he has to get a new flight plan. The drunk's friends and family have figured out he is at risk if not travelling and start bombarding you with assurances how they will look after him and make sure he will be no trouble.
You've heard it all before and you know it can go either way. Bad or good. Decide for an on-time departure and hope for the best, or decide to offload him and piss off all the pax with a late departure, aggravate the ground staff with the dreaded 'look for that suitcase' message and go tell the drunk and his mates the happy news. Risking that you get a fist in your face right there.
Anybody able to tell this is a subject close to my heart?
Well done to the Monarch crew, looks like they followed the book to the last letter and comma. Attempt calm down by talking and refusing more alcohol, present Notice of Violation, protect crew and pax from likely violence by offloading the culprit at the nearest suitable airfield.
Kudos to the Captain for his decision, thankfully more and more young captains act like him and save ALL the people entrusted to their care from lasting bodily and mental harm.
This translates to for example minimally trained and very young (young=cheap slalary wise) Gate Agents, often only 2 of them to board a flight of several 100 passengers. The GAs are more often than not under severe pressure to get the fligth away on time. Struggling with a number of complex issues and working their butts off to get the numbers to match, it is not easy for them to spot the few inebriated pax. Who BTW KNOW that they have to pretend to be sober so they put on an act
Once on the aircraft, there is the Minimum Required Cabin Crew. It's safe acc to JAR OPS, but the CC are spread very thinly on the ground.
Their window to spot the drunk is small. From the moment he appears at the door until he has been told where his seat is. A few seconds.
Again, the pax know this, and try their damnedest to appear sober. The No1/Purser at the door is not only wlecoming the pax (s)he is also keeping an eye out for oversized/too much handluggage, in touch with catering about missing meals, in touch with the cockpit about the progress of the boarding, dealing with double seatings in the cabin, making announcements to see if that missing pap is onboard etc etc etc.
The chances of a drunk getting onboard are better than they should be. The flip side of cost saving.
I catch a few every month despite the above because, having been beaten up by a drunk in the past, I am a tad obsessive about weeding them out.
So now we have the scenario where you are confronted with a drunk pap. The rules/ANO says you can't fly them. Reality says that 50% of drunk pax falls asleep b4 the wheels are up and are no problem. It's the other 50% you have to worry about. So in which 50% does your manny belong?
Make a decision quick, because your flight needs to leave, preferably on time. There's whose connections can get disrupted if you decide to unload the lush. The Captain wants to know what you decide ASAP in case he has to get the holds reopened to find the drunk's luggage and in case he has to get a new flight plan. The drunk's friends and family have figured out he is at risk if not travelling and start bombarding you with assurances how they will look after him and make sure he will be no trouble.
You've heard it all before and you know it can go either way. Bad or good. Decide for an on-time departure and hope for the best, or decide to offload him and piss off all the pax with a late departure, aggravate the ground staff with the dreaded 'look for that suitcase' message and go tell the drunk and his mates the happy news. Risking that you get a fist in your face right there.
Anybody able to tell this is a subject close to my heart?
Well done to the Monarch crew, looks like they followed the book to the last letter and comma. Attempt calm down by talking and refusing more alcohol, present Notice of Violation, protect crew and pax from likely violence by offloading the culprit at the nearest suitable airfield.
Kudos to the Captain for his decision, thankfully more and more young captains act like him and save ALL the people entrusted to their care from lasting bodily and mental harm.
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Well done. I'm delighted to see that he was dumped. So often these kind of muppets are getting away with making life unpleasant for the rest of us. The crew had the same attitude most of us seem to have, "why the hell should we have to listen to them". I'm sure the remaining pax had no problem arriving late into TFS this time considering they got a laugh watching him getting left in the back arse of nowhere.
Just wish we had a way of watching his progress off the island. Then if we could see his face when he gets home after receiving the quote from Monarch for the stop. Now there is an idea for a reality programme. "I'm a drunken abusive wa@#$r, get me out of here"!
Perhaps a runner for how not to see a great night waisted:
Cost of getting drunk : A few quid
Cost of getting home: a few thousand
Face seeing the bill: Priceless
Just wish we had a way of watching his progress off the island. Then if we could see his face when he gets home after receiving the quote from Monarch for the stop. Now there is an idea for a reality programme. "I'm a drunken abusive wa@#$r, get me out of here"!
Perhaps a runner for how not to see a great night waisted:
Cost of getting drunk : A few quid
Cost of getting home: a few thousand
Face seeing the bill: Priceless
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It is about time all the airlines got together and had a blacklist of passengers like this guy. They would then find it almost impossible to get a flight in the future. The airlines should also sue them for th cost of the diversion.
No doubt some PC brigade t...s..r will jump on the band wagon...
No doubt some PC brigade t...s..r will jump on the band wagon...
Or some sleazy lawyer.....
Congratulations to the Monarch team for handling this so well. It's about time the binge-drinking yob culture was put firmly in its place.
Let's see - the next flight I could find from PXO to MAN is 0820 next Thursday (5 January 2006) via Madeira and Lisbon. Cost £301.50 if he's lucky - or if he isn't, that'll be £869.50 please, Sir.
Congratulations to the Monarch team for handling this so well. It's about time the binge-drinking yob culture was put firmly in its place.
Let's see - the next flight I could find from PXO to MAN is 0820 next Thursday (5 January 2006) via Madeira and Lisbon. Cost £301.50 if he's lucky - or if he isn't, that'll be £869.50 please, Sir.
Last edited by BEagle; 30th Dec 2005 at 11:50.
Abusive Passenger
I have flown with Monarch on many occasions, both at the sharp end & as a passenger in the cabin. If both the Captain & Cabin Crew consider, a dirversion to Porto Santo rather than carrying on a further 45mins to Tenerife is the sensible course of action in this case. End of story in my book & it's certainly good enough for me!
I do hope this particular idiot is presented with a large bill by Monarch. I also hope that, he is NOT paid a vast sum by some grubby little newspaper in order to hear his side of the so called story.
I do hope this particular idiot is presented with a large bill by Monarch. I also hope that, he is NOT paid a vast sum by some grubby little newspaper in order to hear his side of the so called story.
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When turning away a drunk "pap" (who dreamt that one up?) in order to meet the ANO, does the airline really "have" to empty the hold to get his/her luggage?
And if so, can't the resulting delay be a cause for both airline and delayed sober passengers to sue the aformentioned pap, so adding to his/her financial cost of such behaviour?
Time for a test case, perhaps?
Chris N.
And if so, can't the resulting delay be a cause for both airline and delayed sober passengers to sue the aformentioned pap, so adding to his/her financial cost of such behaviour?
Time for a test case, perhaps?
Chris N.
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Unfortunately it aint gonna make any difference to it happening again tho - neanderthal man will be neanderthal man.
(Pity Monarch didnt give out his details to all the other passengers
and a name of a lawyer to sue on their behalf for causing them the delay).
(Pity Monarch didnt give out his details to all the other passengers
and a name of a lawyer to sue on their behalf for causing them the delay).
Airbus pilot maroons drunken passenger on desert island