Anti-alcohol Group Tries To Ban Booze On Planes Due To Rerouting Flights
You finally made it through the airport. You get situated into your seat on the plane. You could not be happier, ready to start your vacation. Not an hour into your flight, the pilot tells everyone they need to reroute and land in a different destination. Why? There is an intoxicated person on board that cannot be controlled. Now instead of enjoying your vacation, you are sitting on a plane, waiting for security to escort the person off the plane. This is why an anti-alcohol group tries to ban booze on planes.
Drug Arm Australasia, an Australian anti-alcohol group, has taken action. They are calling for a ban on alcohol on planes. Some people might view this as an extreme action, but would you want the above situation to happen to you? Not only is it the hassle of rerouting your flight, you have to wait to take off again. This could cut hours off of your vacation and for what? This is all because an irresponsible person couldn’t control their drinking.
Not only could it affect your travel time, but there are also physical dangers involved. In the past 2 months 2 flights have been rerouted due to passengers being unruly on flights. One man tried to steal scotch from the trolley cart and became abusive. The crew was able to restrain him with plastic handcuffs and the flight was landed at the next available airport. What if the crew was not able to restrain him? Would you want to be locked miles above the ground with this person? Just imagine how the children on-board must have felt. This is unacceptable behavior.
Should we have to completely restrict alcohol on-board planes, as well as the airports? For the few incidents, should we punish all from the freedom to enjoy a beverage? The anti-alcohol group tries to ban booze on planes, because of the few bad apples. The airlines claim they have trained their employees to spot signs of a passenger that has had too many drinks. What happen in these 2 cases? Did an employee simply brush off the fact that one of their passengers was drunk?
The past 2 intoxicated passengers were able to be contained, but what if they weren’t? What if this passenger was able to break into to the cockpit and crash the plane? I realize this is an extreme example, but all it takes is one time. Qantas and Virgin Australia airlines say they have no plans to change alcohol policies. If the anti-alcohol group tries to ban booze on planes and it fails, at least they have raised awareness of the incident. For now, this group has caused the airlines to stress the importance to their employees. Even the airports have begun supplying better security to help spot the intoxicated passengers before the board the planes. This has prompted the attention in Australia, but how long before it becomes an issue in America and other countries?