I’ve been a pilot for 40 years – here’s the secret way flight crew get us to handle disruptive passengers
A PILOT with 40 years experience has revealed the secret way flight crew deal with disruptive passengers.
It comes after the Government-backed “One Too Many” campaign was relaunched at airports across the country.
Originally conceived in 2018, the initiative aims to raise awareness of the consequences of passengers taking part in disruptive behaviour while flying, focusing on excessive drinking.
Former British Airways pilot Rod Halloran, writing in the I newspaper, said that many people didn’t know it’s illegal to enter a plane drunk or to become drunk while on a flight.
The consequences of doing so can be severe, with passengers facing a lifetime ban from an airline, sizeable fines and even time behind bars.
Delaying a flight can land you with a £5,000 fine while being responsible for a major incident mid-air can lead to a diversion fee up to a hefty £80,000.
Jet2 banned a passenger for life in June, saying it intended to recover a five-figure sum due to the costs incurred.
Last month, another passenger was jailed for four months for disruptive behaviour while on a flight to Antalya, Turkey.
Mr Halloran, who recently retired as a long-haul captain with BA, said he had experienced drunken behaviour several times during his career.
He said: “One of the worst was when I flew for British Caledonian.
“The female cabin crew wore kilts at the time and a man put his hand up one of them. The culprit was intercepted by police when we landed.”
Mr Halloran also gave another example when a peer had to divert to Bulgaria during a flight from Sharm El-Sheikh due to the actions of a group of passengers.
He explained the crew had run out of working hours, as the rules require a rest period after a number of hours of duty, and by the time the plane landed in Bulgaria, the whole plane had to spend the night there.
Mr Halloran estimated the cost of the overnight stop could have been as much as £100,000.
He added there was no one template for the type of person that would become drunk on planes.
Some holidaymakers are so excited they start drinking at the airport in the early hours of the morning.
While nervous fliers may consumer too much alcohol to calm themselves, not realising their behaviour may be frightening to others.
Mr Halloran said a pilot he knew had to call the police out to a couple in their 80s who had downed a litre of spirits each on a trans-Atlantic flight and become abusive to each other and other passengers.
Before 9/11, the pilot would leave the flight deck to have a word with anyone who was getting drunk, telling the passenger that the flight would be diverted if needed and they’d end up in jail, wherever the plane landed.
He said that this method was “very effective” but after 9/11 pilots aren’t allowed to leave the deck now.
Nowadays, Mr Halloran said: “If people are standing up or causing disruption in the aisles, cabin crew can ask the pilot to put the seatbelt signs on.
“All crew are trained to restrain people and, in excessive situations, passengers can be cuffed to a seat.”
While he added that cabin crew can refuse to serve alcohol to a passenger who is being disruptive, there are those who sneak the own alcohol on board and drink it in secret.
Mr Halloran said though that he wasn’t in favour of banning alcohol from planes, as that was part and parcel of the whole experience and the service.
If that was taken away, the majority of people who drink responsibly would be punished.
But he said that awareness campaigns such as “One Too Many” were needed.
Mr Halloran said: “What would be perfect is a storyline in a soap such as EastEnders in which a character goes off on holiday and can’t get back because of their behaviour on a plane.
“Raising awareness of the true cost would be a great deterrent.”