The perfect example is a recent Ryanair flight from Liverpool to Ibiza which turned into a flying party. Passengers decided to start the fun before arriving on the island: they got out of their seats to dance and drink in the aisle, creating a festive atmosphere. The most curious thing about the flight was a little boy who, in the middle of all the commotion, sat quietly reading a book. While everyone was dancing, the boy was concentrating on his reading.
Hence why, after calling for airports to impose a two alcoholic drinks limit on passengers before boarding, Michael O’Leary has now said that he would support a similar restriction once they are on the plane.In August, O’Leary told The Telegraph that alcohol was, along with illegal drugs, a factor in the “misbehaviour” of some passengers: “Most of our passengers show up an hour before departure. That’s sufficient for two drinks. But if your flight is delayed by two or three hours, you can’t be guzzling five, six, eight, ten pints of beer. Go and have a coffee or a cup of tea. It’s not an alcoholics’ outing.”
But it appears that O’Leary is in favour of also cracking down on how much alcohol passengers can consume when they’re on the plane. He told Sky News last week: “If the price of putting a drink limit on the airport, where the problem is being created, is putting a drink limit on board the aircraft, we’ve no problem with that.”
“They’re (passengers are) getting on board with too much alcohol in their system. If we identify them as being drunk on board, we don’t serve them alcohol. But that doesn’t solve the problem,” he added. As for when he would be ready to bring in the new policy, O’Leary, who has been Ryanair CEO for 30 years, claimed that he would be “happy to do it tomorrow”.
7 comments
To be able to write a comment, you have to be registered and logged in
Anna KSo the Germans are guilty of this too? Karlos will be gutted to lose one of his “many reasons” to not be proud of being a Brit!😂
A little sanctimonious overreacting on here by (I suspect) those who have forgotten that they too had fun when they were young! This is not a story about criminals but of young people having a good time and full of the joy of life (and alcohol too no doubt!). Of course drunken passengers should not be allowed on board and if that means restricting alcohol sales in the airport and/or on board then so be it. Ensuring passenger and crew safety must always come first, again of course. But try not to sound old, judgemental and pompous in the process of achieving that!
The question to O'Leary must be who will enforce the ban, the flight staff? Doesn't that now put them at even more risk of violent behaviour?
We have experienced this on flights from Germany to Mallorca, with and without our kids. The staff still served drunken passengers. I had to ask for music to be turned down on peoples Bluetooth speakers and questioned why people sitting in exit seats were still be served alcohol, even when it was clear they had had enough. Unreal. We try and fly with other carriers now but I will say that I have been on one Ryanair flight and the staff dimmed the lights for the whole flight and it seemed to stop the noise and rowdiness, but this was one flight out of many. There needs to be a change in policy.
There is no respect for the Pilot, First Officer,and the Crew. How I wish these drunken ignoramouses could be arrested on Landing. Heavily Fined. Then returned immediatley back to the UK. Where they would be rearrested and given Criminal Records.
'If we identify them as being drunk on board, we don’t serve them alcohol.' They shouldn't be allowed on the plane in the first place.
One of the many reasons why i am not a proud Brit! So unnecessary.