Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has called for airports to impose a two drink per person limit in their terminals, ahead of flight time, in a bid to reduce anti-social behaviour onboard planes.
Mr O’Leary said, in an interview with the Daily Telegraph newspaper, that alcohol and drug-fuelled violent and obnoxious behaviour has become a weekly occurrence on flights and said it is difficult for the airlines to identify passengers who have had too much to drink before boarding a plane.
“As long as they can stand up and shuffle they will get through. Then, when the plane takes off we see the misbehaviour,” Mr O’Leary said.
“We don’t want to begrudge people having a drink. But we don’t allow people to drink-drive, yet we keep putting them up in aircraft at 33,000 feet.”
Mr O’Leary admitted that an increase in flight delays, caused by numerous factors largely outside airlines’ control, has exacerbated the issue, with passengers having to kill more time in airport terminals. But, he said the addition of recreational drug use is also making the matter more serious.
“In the old days, people who drank too much would eventually fall over or fall asleep. But now those passengers are also on tablets and powder. It’s the mix. You get much more aggressive behaviour that becomes very difficult to manage.”
