In theory, ground staff have the right to stop a passenger from boarding a plane if the person is considered to have drunk too much and pose a potential threat other passengers and even the aircraft.
However, such action is seldom taken, plus once they are in the skies, passengers are able to continue drinking.
But the continuing number of incidents have sparked a fresh debate about airport and onboard drinking in the UK.
The Bulletin recently ran a story about the problem with a survey asking readers “Should boozing and flying be banned?” and 72 percent voted yes.
Last year, passengers travelling from the United Kingdom to Spain with Ryanair were banned from consuming the alcohol they had purchased from duty-free on board.
It was already prohibited to consume personal alcohol on any airline, but Ryanair, the low-cost carrier, felt compelled to implement additional measures due to the numerous diversions and incidents that had occurred on their flights.
The change affected the most popular holiday destinations in Spain, including Alicante, Barcelona, Ibiza, Malaga, Palma, and Tenerife. When booking a ticket with Ryanair, passengers received the following message:
“In order to prioritise the comfort and safety of all passengers, Ryanair will implement the following restrictions on your upcoming flight to Spain:
“Customers will not be allowed to carry alcohol on board and all cabin luggage will be searched at the boarding gates. Any alcohol purchased in airport shops or elsewhere must be packed carefully in a suitable item of cabin baggage, which will be tagged at the gate and then placed in the aircraft hold free of charge if you have purchased priority boarding or have a small piece of hand luggage.
Passengers who have purchased wine, beer, or spirits will have their alcoholic beverages stored in the hold and can retrieve them upon arrival in Spain.
Ryanair emphasised, “We are not banning or confiscating duty-free items.”
Passengers who are discovered hiding alcohol and attempting to bring it on board the aircraft face the possibility of being removed from the flight, with no refund or compensation provided.”
5 comments
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I've taken over 5000 flights in my life, including over 500 between the UK and the Balearics. I have only witnessed disruptive behaviour a handful of times, and only on flights from the UK to two destinations. Palma and Ibiza. On UK to Palma flights, disruptive behaviour is limited to the 'youth' season of June and July only. On UK-Ibiza flights, it is for most of the summer season. I have never witnessed disruptive behaviour on any other flight (or in the case of UK/Palma and UK/Ibiza flights, at any other time of year other than the above). For over 20 years, I've taken UK-Balearics flights almost every week, so consider myself something of an expert. Banning alcohol on ALL flights to all destinations is ridiculously disproportionate. If there is to be any ban, it should be limited to specific routes and specific times of year, in keeping with the above.
What a hypocritical stance from Ryanair (no surprise there). They allow drunk passengers to board and then happily keep selling them more alcohol until they start a fight. Airlines can legally deny boarding to drunk passengers but, unless the person can't stand up, they very rarely enforce it.
clare cairnsAnd what, may I ask, does a “Magaluf type” look like ?. Do they have “Magaluf type” stamped in their passports ? Would you apply this ruling to everybody or just to white males ?
Just ban the Magaluf types from coming here.
It is well known that if people can make money from doing the wrong thing then they will. No alcohol to be served in airports or on planes. Airlines like to make a noise about how they are reducing their environmental impact yet every flight has tonnes of alcohol, cigarettes, perfume watches and food on board which hardly anyone buys yet burns fuel to transport it. Do we honestly need food and drink on a 2.5 hour flight from England to Mallorca? If you were at work you wouldn't be eating and drinking until lunchtime so it's unnecessary and just a result of social conditioning. Ooh we are on holiday so let's buy this and buy that and act like bell-ends.