V-Flyer

I am sure no one here will be affected, but I have been told by a friend at VS that, following a number of on board incidents with drunken people in the air, VS staff throughout the airports have been told to be more vigilant.

I understand that staff have been told to do all they can to identify potential problem passengers before they get on the plane. Anyone who is drunk can and may be denied boarding, even if they promise not to drink any more on the plane.

It appears that this is not just aimed at passengers down the back, because Clubhouse staff have also been told of the potential problems of feeding passengers too much booze before they board. In addition, the high number of Clubhouses / shared lounges where alcohol is self service have been flagged.

We will see if it has any effect. 8D

Nick

Thanks for sharing Nick, this is a positive thing and unfortunately it seems it's a few who let everyone else down.

I used the Servisair Lounge last month and I have to say there were a lot of people who were really getting their moneys worth on the alchohol front. Fortunately none of the passengers were on my flight, but quite a few were having a lot to drink and getting quite unruley in the lounge - can't imagine what they would have done in the air!

I suppose the cost to airlines is massive if a divert is needed and ultimately the experience and safety of all passengers is the most important thing.

I was in the shared lounge in Las Vegas in December last year, travelling on my own but at the bar with a group of software consultants that were on the same VS flight.

The bar tender stopped serving us after 2 drinks, only giving the reason that she was not permitted to serve any more alcohol to us. The larger group complained and a VS rep was called, she confirmed that there would be no more service from the lounge bar so the larger party moved to the main airport bar to continue. I stayed in the lounge somewhat puzzled but enjoying as much as one can my T without the G!

I will be in Vegas in a few weeks and will see if the same happens or if it was just the larger group that were flagged as trouble!

Seams very sensible policy but I thought one that had been in place for years but just not consistently applied on ground and in the air.

Will it mean eg the end of top ups in the CH and waiting for pax to finish one drink before giving another and the end to free pour on board. Some times this leads to 'accidental' over indulgence. Once I though I'd just had two smallish glasses of wine but because of ongoing top ups it turned out I'd had a whole bottle

Back in 2007 we were coming back from ANU and had been delayed 24 hours, whilst waiting to depart we were at the airport for 6 hours before actually taking off. During this time we were watching a group of builders going into the toilets with bottles of vodka and drinking it. There were getting a bit loud and abusive.

A few of us noted it to the VS ground staff at boarding but they still allowed them to board. People behind us then told the cabin crew and they were offloaded and we were delayed a further 30 minutes whilst their luggage was taken off.

Getting denied boarding/off-loaded is a pain for all the other passengers and crew, and an expensive lesson for those denied.

On the outbound - Loss of ticket and no refund.
On the inbound - Have to buy a new ticket at short notice. Never cheap.

You then risk being black-listed by the airline.

Am hoping there won't be any p*ssheads on my (Easyjet)Berlin flight next month. It leaves pretty early though so I guess only professional alcoholics will be on-board

I hope this applied with common sense.

Whilst I generally think this is absolutely the right thing to do, 2 drinks can affect one person more than another...

And, how do you define drunk - after all, it's the trouble-makers they want to stop, not those that are quietly tipsy and just go to sleep!!!

It would have to be applied equally, otherwise it will cause more problems when A gets another drink when B has be refused one.

If the crew think someone is drunk at the gate, they will simply call the police, who can legally declare someone drunk (as they are experts ). "His/Her eyes were glazed, speech was slurred, unsteady on feet and smelt of intoxicating liquor."

Hmmm - I had a girlfriend once, that would get extremely loud and silly after less than a glass of wine......guess we're all going to have sober flights for a while!!!

Bet this isn't applied equally between the Y and J cabins though...

And, I suspect this will be applied vigorously for a few weeks, then gradually relax...

This makes sense - we did have someone on the VS4 last night who had been prevented from flying on the VS46 the previous night because he was intoxicated :0 :0 :0

He slept like a baby last night -not a peep!!! Think the FSM had given him the Scarborough warning though before we set off.

Its a shame that a few spoil it for those of us who like to have a good few drinks on board and can hold our drinks and behave. I think as the drinks are 'free', some think they have to try and drink as much as they can. I have noticed in the 6 years I have been flying Virgin that the drinks are not as freely offered as they were once (economic conditions taken into account I know), but I hope the offering doesn't decrease too much!!!

Its good to hear that Virgin are taking this seriously.

I have once seen a passenger refused alcohol at the UC bar and told to return to their seat, they carried on serving other people though.

I don't agree with the view that to treat people the same you have to act the same with everyone. To treat people equally and give them equal opportunity, you need to act differently, depending on the circumstance. So just because one person has had enough to drink, doesn't mean you should stop serving everyone else.

I think the key thing is that the passengers are able to do what they need to do should there be an emergency.

clarkeysntfc wrote:I think the key thing is that the passengers are able to do what they need to do should there be an emergency.

If only it were that simple. An aggressive drunk at 38,000' is never going to be a fun experience for other passengers or crew.

There is nothing in this to prevent any passenger indulging in a drink or two before or during the flight. It's about minimising the disruption to everyone else when an aircraft diverts to somewhere like Gander because they have too much and become aggressive or even try to open an exit at altitude.

Darren Wheeler wrote:Getting denied boarding/off-loaded is a pain for all the other passengers and crew, and an expensive lesson for those denied.

On the outbound - Loss of ticket and no refund.
On the inbound - Have to buy a new ticket at short notice. Never cheap.

You then risk being black-listed by the airline.

The Canadian authorities seam to take a dim view of this and impose large fines and compensation orders for those reported to it when a plane is diverted and charged and proved guilty.

Not cheap to buy a one way fare from Gander to the UK either.

Annoying thing is that some of these miscreants make out they are the innocent party

tontybear wrote:Not cheap to buy a one way fare from Gander to the UK either.

Out of idle curiosity, I've just priced up a flight from Gander to LHR via Toronto, leaving Wednesday through Expedia.

Total cost is £1220.20 :0

tontybear wrote:The Canadian authorities seam to take a dim view of this and impose large fines and compensation orders for those reported to it when a plane is diverted and charged and proved guilty.

The Irish authorities are the same. A number of passengers get off-loaded at SNN each year and get fined heftily and/or jail

An interesting topic / issue that affects all airlines. I don't think the problem is so much the amount people consume, more the fact that the drinks will invariably be mixed. Even if you only ask for two drinks in the Clubhouse, with these + what you are offered on-board (in Upper Class), you are likely to be able to down the following with ease;

A couple of glasses of champagne / cocktails in the Clubhouse.
A glass or two of champagne when you board.
One, maybe two drinks offered before the meal service.
Wine with meal (top-up is normally offered)
After-dinner drink(s)

So that is 8 or 9 drinks, spanning several different types of alcohol. So getting on for 3x the recommended daily intake for a Male, before making any allowance for the increased effect of alcohol at altitude.

I do wonder if the problem in the Y cabin is underestimated though. Due to the lower crew/pax ratio, many people go to the galley to collect drinks & possibly pass them onto people who have already had too much. In Upper, the drink would be served to you. Back in 2004 I was on a MCO flight in Y and a party of pax was openly passing round the bottle of duty free Scotch amongst themselves.

Even one glass of wine affects me. I'm such a lightweight

I was on a flight to JFK last July (PE) ...and across from me sat three small children and their mother ...who was getting totally wasted! She kept asking for more wine, which CC were happy to oblige .. the children, sadly were wild and knocked a whole tray of food on the floor, not to mention smashing a wine glass (one of many and empty!) ... v(

I would love to know whether the drunk twosome who endeavoured to join our VS052 at Tobago last year did, after being shown off the plane, get sent a bill by VS for the delays and other issues they caused.

catsilversword wrote:Even one glass of wine affects me. I'm such a lightweight

): ): I always wanted a girlfriend like that. ): ): Unfortunately I seemed to attract ladies who drank vodka by the case.

I have never, repeat never been tipsy or even drunk on a VS flight. No way. Wasn't me.

That flight to Dubai, wasn't me, it was my colleague drinking at the bar with an off duty Captain and his girlfriend and child in Y and the bit on the side serving the UC cabin. Honestly.

From what I have heard, one of the cabins is more problematic than the others.

It's not Y and it's not J I'm told.