Airlines could ban drunk passengers for life after Ryanair boss calls for alcohol limits in airports
We’re entering that time of year when videos of drunk passengers getting kicked off planes seem to go viral every other week.
Fights in the aisles, kick offs in the seats and getting too p**sed in the skies seems to amp up as the holidays approach with people often arrested and escorted off aircrafts following their bad behaviour.
But as well as the occasional naming-and-shaming on social media and sometimes trouble with the police, there could also now be life-long travel consequences.
As Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary calls for alcohol limits in airports, there is now potential that airlines could ban drunk passengers for life.
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Proposals are reportedly still being discussed but they are proving controversial already as some campaigners voice concerns about the plans.
Lifetime ban
Currently, airlines can chose to ban passengers who have been violent or abusive while travelling with them.
And this restriction currently only applies to the carrier involved in the alleged incident.
However, ministers are currently looking into measures that would allow other airlines to identify these ‘troublemakers’ and refuse them travel.
Under these proposals (very much in the early stages of development right now), as reported by the Daily Express, information relating to blacklisted passengers could become available all across the aviation sector.
Therefore, if one of these people tried to book a flight in the future, the airline could be alerted and then given the option of blocking them from booking.
With this meaning information shared across companies, campaigners have argued it sets a ‘dangerous precedent’ as well as over restrictions on access to transport.
So, the big obstacle to a scheme like this is the existing data protection legislation.
There is reportedly growing pressure for tougher action as onboard disturbances continue to attract attention, particularly over cabin crew allegedly receiving death threats and being subject to violent confrontations.
Ryanair boss calls for limits
Recently, O’Leary proposed a ban on those early morning airport pints due to poor behaviour.
Speaking to The Times, the Ryanair CEO said: "I fail to understand why anybody in airport bars is serving people at five or six o'clock in the morning. Who needs to be drinking beer at that time?"
O’Leary believes restrictions are needed as he added: “There should be no alcohol served at airports outside [those] licensing hours.”
Being drunk on a plane is illegal, and the budget airline boss proposed a two-drink limit, both in airport bars and on the flights.
He said: “We are reasonably responsible, but the ones who are not responsible, the ones who are profiteering off it, are the airports who have these bars open at five or six o’clock in the morning and during delays are quite happy to send these people as much alcohol as they want because they know they’re going to export the problem to the airlines."
Jess Battison