Alcohol ban VS43

So, what happened next was quite funny. We hit turbulence, not too bad, but an unusually strange and certainly with unfamiliar consistency. In-fact this was even stranger for us seasoned travellers, and it happened perfectly timed with the illumination of the seat belt signs. It was like “DING” Wobble, wobble, wobble.

“Ladies and gentlemen the captain has found it appropriate to switch on the seat belt sign due to turbulence”

Wobble, wobble, wobble.

Wife Panics... CC comes over to say "Don’t worry, that's the captain, because we want everyone in Y who is stood up, to sit down"...

I believe this is quite usual, particularly if groups have started to form standing around the plane.

Re the drinking

I have been on a Vegas flight where a group brought on and drank their own wine. My daughter was knocked on the leg as the empty bottle was pushed back under the seat in front. I took the bottle to the galley. One of the CC, thinking the bottle was mine started to read the riot act to me, until I pointed out where it had come from. The riot act was then read to the group in front of us, completed with the possibility of arrest at the arriving airport. The group did go very quiet after that (Although when the group recounted the story to their friends, later, it was embellished with one young lady saying "Oh yeah!, I said to the bitch, you don't have the right to have us arrested". I did have to butt in and say "Shall I go and ask 'the bitch' to get the Captain so you can tell him what he can't do as well?". It went quiet again.)

Limiting to 4 drinks wouldn't have solved my VS43 Y issue, because they must have only had 1 or 2 drinks on-board, and the Thomson issue was based on the fact that 1. they had drank copious amounts of alcohol in the airport before flying, hense the ambulance on the Air Force base that we landed at, and 2. They pre-booked champagne each on-board, and were drinking it out of the bottle...

So, Breath-tests before flight???

Perhaps Virgin should BAN alcohol in all cabins. just to be safe. Imagine some alcohol fuelled UC pax running down the economy section with their metal cutlery...... god forbid

Ha ha ha ha ha... god, I love this thread y)

It might not be how much is consumed on board that is the problem. Some seem to have had one or two too many even before getting aboard.

Personally, the thought of downing three or four pints for breakfast doesn't appeal. However for some, it seems perfectly normal once they get into holiday mode.

Difficult to police I know but whats next, breathalyser test at the gate? :0

Exactly, I was in the LHR Clubhouse back at the end of March waiting for my wife to arrive before our night flight to DEL when a gent (term loosely applied) who was flying to Australia that evening put his feet up on the table and knocked his drinks over without even noticing then proceeded to vomit over himself and the chair he was sitting in. v(

Not pleasant for myself and fellow CH users, or the CH staff that had to deal with him and the mess. n(

The Clubhouse manageress soon arrived and I believe she relieved him of his boarding pass. y)

Crisis averted?

by joeyc

baza wrote:
Perhaps Virgin should BAN alcohol in all cabins. just to be safe. Imagine some alcohol fuelled UC pax running down the economy section with their metal cutlery...... god forbid

Ha ha ha ha ha... god, I love this thread

My thoughts exactly !! )

... before our night flight to DEL when a gent (term loosely applied) who was flying to Australia that evening put his feet up on the table and knocked his drinks over without even noticing then proceeded to vomit over himself and the chair he was sitting in. v(

Ok that made me laugh... thanks for the great start to a Friday morning y)

As for if it would solve the problem.... hmm he had his boarding pass confiscated - I wonder if he noticed ?| - so on this occasion yes. I don't see that happening on mass at the gate though, there would be riots!!!!

I stand by the crew on this one, if they see need to introduce a control mechanism on certain routes, fair play to them. The only other solution would be to employ bouncers and then we are back to what I previously said about the Gatwick fleet looking like London on a Saturday night... that Maccy-D stand will then pop up outside the lavatories and quite frankly at that stage we deserve what we get... :$

Sorry Gpik - I have never worked out how to quote someone else's comments in order to reply ....
I thought it was the Captain... I remember it being after the info on which route was being taken etc... but it was a year ago !

Sorry Gpik - I have never worked out how to quote someone else's comments in order to reply ....
I thought it was the Captain... I remember it being after the info on which route was being taken etc... but it was a year ago !

In the band above their post is a little button with quote written in it.. next to the exclamation mark...

Sorry to butt in

No, thank you ! I am delighted when someone helps out !

Doesn't this all come down to "public order"?

There are laws/powers to deal with such things - the trick is to find out how to apply them to an airliner without generating costs/delays.

I've seen similar events on trains, underground, in the street. Plice deal with it, but only because the logistics are more straightforward.

It seems to me, airports/airlines need to get their heads together, and find a pre-emptive way of applying the laws/powers that already exist...

Thoughts?

Doesn't this all come down to "public order"?

There are laws/powers to deal with such things - the trick is to find out how to apply them to an airliner without generating costs/delays.

I've seen similar events on trains, underground, in the street. Plice deal with it, but only because the logistics are more straightforward.

It seems to me, airports/airlines need to get their heads together, and find a pre-emptive way of applying the laws/powers that already exist...

Thoughts?

Skylaw!!!!

The seatbelt sign and a bit of plane rocking can be done to get people in seats.. Unless they start to recruit bouncer like FSM (funily enough I have met an FSM that used to be a bouncer) and CC then they might as well carry a police detail if they want to start getting into public order enforcement.

Would there not also be the problem with which public order laws to apply across country borders? Now we are getting into interpol territory..

In regards to tackling the prob of people turning up at the gate with more than a few inside them.... would it not be possible to get some cooperation from the airports on this one, in the guise of a 'customer foot traffic survey'. ):

Ask the airport bars and restaurants to stamp pax boarding passes every time they order a drink.. would at least give the gate staff some indication as to how much they have had. Same with duty free, they usually scan boarding passes anyway, a little stamp to say yes this pax has bought booze.... all in the name of customer service (or a police state) ): ):

Easily fixed, actually. RB should employ Judge Dredd.

.. Unless they start to recruit bouncer like FSM ....

I met a scary FSM on Aeroflot once. I reckon he/she could sort out the VS Vegas flights on his/her own!

): ): ): ):

It is a criminal offence to be drunk on board an aircraft. If the crew keep serving alcohol until people are drunk then it's their fault that pax are drunk. Solution is to stop serving alcohol before people get drunk hence the measures being adopted on the Vegas flights. It's not like a bar where you can ask people to leave, we are stuck up there with potentially drunken aggressive passengers. I know to some it seems unfair but I think 3 or 4 alcoholic drinks on a flight should be enough for anyone. People should wait until they reach their destination to get hammered! LimitIng the amount of alcohol served is the only way to ensure we put a stop to drunken disruptive and abusive behaviour on flights.

how about making people pay like Ryanair and reduce the cost of a flight !

.. Unless they start to recruit bouncer like FSM ....

I met a scary FSM on Aeroflot once. I reckon he/she could sort out the VS Vegas flights on his/her own!

): ): ): ):

Rosa Klebb perhaps?

how about making people pay like Ryanair and reduce the cost of a flight !

Or fly American/United/Delta/US etc where alcoholic drinks are charged for in economy.

I'm sure that over the years many airlines have had similar dilemas on how to address this issue - damned if they do damned if they don't.
Stamping boarding cards each time a passenger buys a drink in departures seems possible, but I'm sure in reality not so simple.
You could go a step further and do the same onboard the aircraft - each seat could have a barcode that is "zapped" each time a passenger asks for a drink.

The above only lets you know how many drinks have been purchased, but still not the actual amount that's been drunk and everyone has different tolerances to alcohol, my misses for example only needs 2 glasses of wine to be merry, but back when I served in the Navy, I would think nothing of drinking a bottle of JD and still be perfectly copus mentus!

I don't imagine VS took this decision lightly, especially if it could damage profits!

Rosa Klebb perhaps?

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ) ) )

For those pax that continue being rowdy a quick kick with her poisoned shoe knife would surely do the trick... y)

I don't think its the free nature of the drinks, I'm really sure the troublemakers would be putting their hand in their pockets and getting that drunk if they had to pay for that.

Its about anti social behaviour on an aircraft really, alcohol contributes to it, but plenty of people don't have this problem.

Some people really shouldn't drink. A few that I know who don't drink, don't because they are a 'onecanmadman' and really do act like a moron after half a can of beer. This is something they've eventually dealt with, and some people never do this...

But like its been said elsewhere, you can throw people out of a bar, but its much more problematic to do it on an aircraft...

Or perhaps not.... Emergency doors??? ):

There is another solution too: more staff so they can monitor and control the crowd (is this shut down easier in the US where they have air marshalls? Do they have air marshalls on VS flights?). Stricter antisocial behaviour control "Could you please stop shouting at your friend across the cabin?"

I dunno, ideal world. I think the blanket ban of alcohol like being proposed is a bad business decision for Virgin. They are already more expensive than others, and now to be less special...

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Why dont people just drink non alchoholic drinks on the plane, Its not like you cant drink alchohol when you arrive.

Not that simple unfortunately, like it was said in a previous post, VS are already an expensive airline to fly with and it's things like the free alcohol that make it special. My next flight for instance, I have upgraded to PE both ways, this cost me about £1000 on top of my bill and if I only got a little extra leg room and dinner on a plate, that would be rather expensive wouldn't it ): I'm looking forward to my glass of bubbly and a baileys after dinner y)

Some years ago I was on a very late flight back from Palma with two friends. We were sat almost at the back of the plane. Captain announced we were waiting for three people before we could take off. A couple of minutes later three "Yobs" came walking up the plane, one of whom and thrown up over my friends feet in the airport (nice!) The only three seats were the ones directly behind us in the middle of the plane. They didn't even have time to sit down before I asked to be moved. There were no other seats available, we kicked up a fuss and refused to sit with them at the back of us so the CC called the local police and had them ejected from the plane. Surely the CC can see that these large stag/hen do's are so inhebriated before they board and should be turned away at the gates.

Don't get me wrong I like a drink to start my holidays but as one other post says why not wait until you get to the strip and then drink as much as you want!!

[Darren Wheeler]

Ultimately it comes down to personal responsibility. Sadly this is somewhat lacking these days, but boy, they know their rights.

I, like the vast majority of the flying population, can sit on a flight, enjoy 3 or 4 alcoholic drinks without wanting to fight the whole plane. I'm sure VS have looked at other ways to reduce it and the re-fits might help (show them pretty moving pictures) but I'm sure they'd rather lose a few passengers that keep diverting aircraft as its a whole lot cheaper.