Pilots urge travellers to go easy on pre-flight drinking
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Pilots are urging passengers not to get carried away with their pre-flight drinking as the peak travel season starts today.
The warning from pilots’ union BALPA comes after a rise in disruptive passenger incidents in recent years, many as a result of excessive alcohol consumption.
According to figures from the Civil Aviation Authority, the number of incidents of disruptive behaviour jumped 600% between 2012 and 2016.
BALPA warns that disruptive passengers are not only a nuisance but a safety concern.
It said those who cause problems should face the full force of the law.
BALPA head of flight safety Dr Rob Hunter said: "BALPA doesn’t want to ruin people’s fun, but the growing trend in drunken disruptive behaviour is concerning.
"Consuming excessive amounts of alcohol is dangerous: should there be an incident, someone who is severely inebriated might not be able to follow the instructions given to them, or hold up an evacuation.
"If a flight has to be diverted as a result of an incident, this can cause misery for other passengers and costs the airlines an awful lot of money.
"We also see examples of passengers becoming violent. Crew should not be expected to deal with any sort of verbal or physical aggression.
"Passengers should take note – if you cause disruption to a flight through violent or drunken behaviour, you could be facing a whopping fine, or even prison time."
BALPA has signed up to the UK Aviation Industry Code of Practice on Disruptive Passengers.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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