Air rage - another one

[Hagar]

This is getting ridiculous.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4615370.stm

Air rage grounds 200 passengers  

More than 200 UK-bound passengers have been delayed in Florida after their flight from Mexico was diverted by a disturbance on the plane.
A man said to be drunk allegedly assaulted flight crew members and smashed up one of the plane's toilets.

The Thomsonfly plane from Cancun in Mexico to Manchester was diverted to Sanford Airport in Orlando, where passengers were put up in hotels.

The FBI said a man had been charged with "interfering with flight crew."

The 232 other passengers are now due to fly back to the UK on Monday.

The plane had been due to land at Manchester Airport at 0745 GMT on Sunday.

The FBI said the passenger, who has been named as Rafal Krawczyk, assaulted three flight attendants and several passengers were needed to restrain him.

It confirmed he had been charged with "interfering with a flight crew" and was due to appear in court on Tuesday.

He was travelling on a Polish passport but is resident in Ireland, said the FBI.

Ian MacGranthin, a passenger on flight BY437B, told BBC News: "He attacked a couple of crew members and a few people got knocked about. Eventually he had to be restrained."

A Thomsonfly spokesman said: "The captain took the decision for the safety of all passengers to take the aircraft into Sanford."

The plane was met by local police, who escorted the passenger away.

Thomsonfly said all the remaining passengers would be flown to Birmingham Airport on Monday morning, although it is not yet known what time the flight will land.

The flight had originally been due to stop at Birmingham and Manchester but will now only land at Birmingham.

Those who need to travel to Manchester are likely to be taken by bus.

[Craig.]

Its getting ridiculous. Drunk passengers should be refused boarding, regardless of their physical appearance at the gate. And its getting to the point that alcohol is going to be banned or severly restricted on flights.

[Katahu]

I agree. If you're drunk, you're not suppose to be on the plane in the first place. Notice that EVERY single case of air rage was the result of at least one drunk passenger.

I can imagine how pissed off the other passengers are. Picture yourself heading off to another destination while your luggage goes to the original destination and you have to look for it if it gets lost. Not only that, imagine arriving late to very important family matters or business matters simply because one passenger decided to act stupid and get drunk.

Idiots. Such people are idiots. Not only that, they end up in jail and have to cough up a lot of money to get them out. Also, imagine how the idiot's own relatives must feel when hear the news. :-/

[BFMF]

Why is it that commercial airlines allow drunk passengers on airline flights, but it's against regulations for me to allow a drunk person to fly in my aircraft, unless it's an emergency?

[ozzy72]

About 6 months ago Doug said they should ban alcohol on flights the same way they ban smoking. I'm in total agreement. I hope this twit enjoys his holiday in Club Fed

[Saitek]

He's up for quite a few years in a cell. Serves the wretch right... the video clip showed how terrified the passengers were. He tried opening the doors at 30,000ft and the passengers bundled on top of him.

[Craig.]

He could try to open them all he wants, but unless he's superman he wouldn't have moved the door an inch.

[Saitek]

Yeah I know - but you don't start attacking the doors midflight at 30,000ft. PLus he attacked the crew and passengers. For all they knew he could produce anything couldn't he? You just don't risk it.

*Pilot* What in the world is that banging?

*Stewardess* No worries Cappy - its just a drunk trying to open the cabin door!

*Pilot* That's fine - we've only another 9 hours to reach our destination - I'm sure he'll give up by then.

*Stewardess* Ladies and Gentlemen, please cover your ears and eyes and just ignore the drunk trying to murder you all. We should arrive in the UK before he manages to do so.


No I don't think so.

[Hagar]

About 6 months ago Doug said they should ban alcohol on flights the same way they ban smoking. I'm in total agreement. I hope this twit enjoys his holiday in Club Fed

I've been saying that for a long time & it seems the obvious solution. This is a comparatively recent problem & I don't know the reason for it. Whatever the reason people don't seem able to cope with drink like they used to & acholol-related violence is by no means confined to airline passengers.

There is no longer any justification for serving free alcohol to airline passengers & this would be easy enough to stop tomorrow if they wished. It would not affect duty-free alcohol as some airlines do not allow duty-free purchases in the cabin anyway. You order what you want & pay for it, then collect it on leaving the aircraft.

[Craig.]

Alot of the problem, is the increase of transatlantic cheap flights, through companies like this. The flying public dont realise that the altitude effects the amount of alcohol you can drink before getting drunk, in most cases its alot less than you would be able to drink on the ground. So now you have loads of people flying long distances who wouldn't usually now being let loose with free alcohol in an enclosed space. Bound to happen.

[Hagar]

Maybe some enterprising airline should introduce non-alcohol flights like they did with smoking some years ago. The response would be very interesting & this might start a new trend.

[ozzy72]

It would be interesting I think Doug. I'm all for it! There is a time and a place for getting hammered and on the plane isn't it!

[H]

He could try to open them all he wants, but unless he's superman he wouldn't have moved the door an inch.

...being stuporman doesn't count. This does, however, bring up a thought of special suction chutes to rid of the "unwanted."  ::)

[Craig.]

[quote]
...being stuporman doesn't count. This does, however, bring up a thought of special suction chutes to rid of the "unwanted."