|
Easyjet Pilot Refuses 50 Scotish Fans Flying from Amsterdam to Prague
Picked up from an Irish Soccer Forum
Does the pilot seem to have been out of order? How would the plot justify refusing such a large group of people whos only common denominator may have been going to a match. The Tartan Army got stopped from boarding a plane in Amsterdam yesterday. Note obviously all our fans are very responsible drinkers and would never be in that state. http://www.ybig.ie/forum/smileys/smiley2.gif ANGRY Tartan Army fans were left stranded after an airline refused to fly them to tonight's game in Prague. The group of around 50 supporters were told they were "too drunk" to board the EasyJet flight due to take them to the crunch Euro qualifier. But the Record was inundated with calls last night branding the decision "a disgrace". The fans were supposed to fly from Amsterdam to Prague at 7.20pm last night. They claim they were told the flight was delayed and were then rounded up and had their boarding cards confiscated. The flight eventually left at 11.43pm - without the 50 Scots fans. Craig Tweedie, 40, from Paisley, said: "It's a disgrace - some of us have not drunk for two years. We don't know what to do. We have no euros - all our money is in Czech currency. "I have been travelling to away games for ten years and know how to behave. I have never been treated like this before." EasyJet said the situation was "still ongoing" when contacted by the Record last night. A spokesman said: "Around 50 Scotland supporters were warned about their conduct."The matter was discussed with the pilot and it was decided they were too drunk to fly." Stuart Fairweather, 20, from Falkirk, said: "We were not drunk or daft. Everyone in a kilt or Scotland top was told they were not flying. "Police told us it was because four people had been causing trouble." Trainee lawyer Fraser Gillespie, 21, from Larbert, was left stranded with a group of six friends at Schipol Airport. He said: "We had a couple of drinks but no more than that. "Everyone in my group was sensible and coherent and certainly not a risk to safety. "I have been to many away games with the Tartan Army and never encountered anything like the treatment we've had here." He said his group would attempt to get to Prague today by rail to catch pre-booked flights home. Mark Scott, 34, from Gorebridge, Midlothian, said: "We are all here on the internet desperately trying to find a way to get to Prague. "It was EasyJet who gave the boys vouchers to buy drink. "There are a lot of guys here and they have done nothing wrong. They were not abusive or anything like that. "Now the guys here have a problem getting to Prague. They can't just go home. A lot of them are booked on flights back to Scotland from Prague." The Airbus A319 plane with 90 passengers on board was due to land at Prague at 2.30am this morning. |
Does the pilot seem to have been out of order? The matter was discussed with the pilot and it was decided they were too drunk to fly "It was EasyJet who gave the boys vouchers to buy drink. |
"Refused Boarding" is the Captain's ultimate sanction. I have only had to threaten it in the past, and once the financial ramifications are understood, it brings about a miraculous improvement in the behaviour of recalcitrant passengers.
http://www.augk18.dsl.pipex.com/Smileys/nono2.gifhttp://www.augk18.dsl.pipex.com/Smileys/nono2.gif |
If it turns out that several of those refused boarding were actuallt teetotallers, and were not even with those who may have been too drunk, what rights would they have.
I know we are flying to Slovakia on Monday, we will be a family, there will be maybe 100 people on the flight going to the match, can we be denied boarding as we are going to a match even when we dont drink, but because the people siting beside us are drunk, who we dont even know? |
I saw the whole group in the bar at EDI yesterday afternoon at 4ish. They seemed in really good spirits at the time.
|
I once was on a low cost carrier (which no longer exists) flight from Glasgow which had a number of Celtic fans on board. Their behaviour was an absolute disgrace and the pilot had to ask them several times during the flight to keep it down.
This is very unfair on the rest of the passengers. Was actually the most unpleasant flight on which I have embarked. |
There's an old saying : if you lie down with dogs you get up with fleas.
A sober person amongst a group of drunks is likely to be influenced by the rowdy behaviour of the drunks and to start behaving in a manner which could cause annoyance, to say the least, to other pax. I was a teetotaller for some years, and remember very vividly being part of a group which was denied boarding on a flight from Salisbury to Beira in the Air Rhodesia days. The group was about 12 people, 8 were practically legless, 2 were, like myself, teetotallers, and a couple of the others were coherent and able to stand but, to be honest, drunk! We were all barred from flying, and I feel, rightly so, annoying as it was. |
Easyjet have form for doing this.
YouTube - Saint Niall Quinn Fans thrown off plane over Niall Quinn's Disco Pants | UK news | The Guardian |
I once was on a low cost carrier (which no longer exists) flight from Glasgow which had a number of Celtic fans on board. Their behaviour was an absolute disgrace and the pilot had to ask them several times during the flight to keep it down. This is very unfair on the rest of the passengers. Was actually the most unpleasant flight on which I have embarked. To blanket ban 50 fans when only a couple might have been a bit rowdy seems like an over-reaction, but I wasn't there so I wouldn't want to prejudge a situation that I wasn't involved in. |
90% of the time a dispatcher has felt it necessary to say "They're a little worse for wear but I think they will be okay" we have had problems.
Usually its nothing more than loud swearing but even this is unacceptable to other passengers who DO feel intimidated and uncomfortable by this kind of behaviour. A few things that drunk passengers have done on board flights for companies I have worked for over the last few years include: Sexually assaulting a cabin crew member, sexually explicit comments to cabin crew and other female passengers, violent assault of a crew member, hysterical behaviour which was frightening other passengers, threatening behaviour because they were refused more alcohol, fighting with other passengers etc etc. Also, it is illegal to be be drunk on board an aircraft and an offensive to admit passengers on board who are known to be drunk. The Captain did the right thing both in regards to his legal responsibility and the responsibility to his other passengers. |
Usually its nothing more than loud swearing but even this is unacceptable to other passengers who DO feel intimidated and uncomfortable by this kind of behaviour. A few things that drunk passengers have done on board flights for companies I have worked for over the last few years include: Sexually assaulting a cabin crew member, sexually explicit comments to cabin crew and other female passengers, violent assault of a crew member, hysterical behaviour which was frightening other passengers, threatening behaviour because they were refused more alcohol, fighting with other passengers etc etc. Leader did go to couple of passengers and ask them to switch seats further up plane with couple of group members as said "we will be a bit loud and don't wish to offend", I ended up sitting next to a very fit BA CC trainer:ok: on way to meet her b/f :(. Picking up bags when landed chatted to leader asked would they have behaved, he said possibly but also once CC had got group leader it was then up to him to ensure they did, he felt CC were clever in getting using group against themselves. |
As a fare paying passenger quite apart from the nuisance that a large group of inebriated fellow travellers will bring to the flight, IMHO the benchmark for allowing them to board should be much starker.
Assume the aircraft has to be evacuated with such a group on board. Apart from the dangers the drunk individuals pose to themselves, what additional and avoidable perils are the crew/company imposing on the other passengers by allowing those "worse for ware" onto the aircraft should such a situation arise. A group of 50 individuals in "high spirits" on board a 180 ish seat aircraft, even assuming 10 of them were completely sober, you still have 40 or roughly 1 pax in 4 who is at best a human chicane in the midst of the evac, and that's before normal human panic sets in. How much worse could the outcome of a "British Airtours 28M" type situation be if such a mix existed? JAS |
Surprising, ALL 50 too drunk??
Actually, the Tartan Army take their conduct pretty seriously, in that, in the whole, they see themselves as Ambassadors for Scotland.
Tartan Army - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia As for booing the national anthem what do you expect with "May he sedition hush and like a torrent rush, Rebellious Scots to crush," far better for Emgland to adopt Barwick Green or it's ilk. |
As football 'fans' they should understand that the referee's decision is final. Well done Easyjet. I have denied boarding and off-loaded quite a few in my time. Neither I nor my crew need the problems, nor the other pax.
|
I was on a easyjet flight a few years back from STN-EDI there was a few French rugby fans on board one was loud but nothing more, when we got to EDI we were told to stay in our seats the reason being this one fan was arrested, believe me his behaviour was far from being unacceptable, he was sitting directly in front of me:=
|
BOAC and merlinxx - were all of the 50 supporters who were reported as denied boarding behaving unacceptably?
"Police told us it was because four people had been causing trouble." |
One: It is against the law to accept passengers who are drunk.
Two: It is dangerous to carry passengers who are rowdy & disorderly. Three: A captain knows exactly all the kinds of cr@p that will hit the fan when (s)he decides not to carry a group like this. That decision is never made lightly. If every member of the group was drunk is immaterial, see Capetonianīs post above. When a captain is not comfortable carrying a (number of) pax, for whatever reason, it is his duty to refuse them. He did. Nothing more to it, and all the Monday morning quarterbacking here is just that. |
Something like this is very difficult but the Captain made the right decision.
Faced with a group of 50 people he cannot possibly run around breath testing the ones he will or will not take. People en masse act in pack instincts! itself not a good situation as those people alone are totally different. He has to treat the group as one no matter how unfair that appears. Better to deal with a problem on the ground rather than risk an even bigger or dangerous situation in the air. He has to be overcautious I would do the same. Pace |
Is it not possible to deny boarding only to those members of the group who appear to be drunk, and take the rest....or is that a difficult call to make?
In our part of the world one deals with drunk individuals, rather than a large group of sports fans...so would be interested to know if breaking up the group will work? |
On the pitch - FIFA rules
On the plane - Captain rules :ok: Nuff sed, move on, nothing more t see here. SGC |
| All times are GMT. The time now is 08:07. |
Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.