Why isn’t anything being done to stop holiday makers getting paralytic planes on
consumed: ‘I suddenly felt very tipsy and unsteady on my feet. I wouldn’t normally have been this affected by that amount of alcohol — I’m not sure if it had something to do with being up in the air.’
She might be right. According to flight industry regulator the Civil Aviation Authority, low air pressure when flying effectively thins the blood, making us feel drunker quicker. Other experts say the dehydration experienced on planes can make us more inebriated.
James, who had four vodkas himself, also felt the effects and made a remark that triggered an unprecedented row between the two. ‘He said the stewardess had a nice bottom,’ recalls Charlotte.
Drunk, she saw red: ‘I accused him of looking at other women. He said I was being silly and that he had only been joking. Our voices grew louder and louder and people kept turning round to look at us.’
When the stewardess in question asked them to keep their voices down, a jealous Charlotte grew further enraged. ‘I told her to mind her own business,’ she admits, ‘and we carried on arguing.’
Five minutes later, the air hostess returned with a stark warning. ‘She told us we were upsetting other passengers and that if we weren’t quiet we would be detained by security on landing.’
The couple kept quiet for the rest of the flight. ‘I ate, slept and started to sober up,’ says Charlotte.
As she did, she realised what a fool she had made of herself. ‘Mortified, I apologised to the air hostess. My behaviour was completely out of character.’
During her two years with Virgin Atlantic, former air hostess Stephanie Davenport, 35, says three of her passengers were so inebriated they required the airline’s ‘restraint kit’, which renders them immobile with handcuffs and a belt attached to their upper body.
One was a man in his 30s flying to Jamaica who exposed himself to a female passenger next to him. ‘He was arrested on landing and banned from flying with Virgin for life,’ says Stephanie, from Buckinghamshire.
‘Another was a middle-aged man who became abusive and agitated. We couldn’t work out how he’d got into this state until we found an empty whisky bottle in the toilet bin that he’d obviously bought from duty free.’
Since resigning in 2010, Stephanie, now a lecturer, says behaviour in-flight has only grown worse. ‘The last few times I’ve travelled have been atrocious,’ she says.
‘On a Jet2 flight from Birmingham to Girona recently, my husband and I were surrounded by a group of middle-aged men who were making racist remarks and leering at the female cabin crew.
‘One had three whiskies, a gin and a cider and was still allowed to order more. I think the crew were too scared of confrontation to refuse service.’
COulD staff morale be an issue? Stephanie, whose basic air hostess salary was just £12,000 a year, believes low morale plays a part in lapsed discipline.
‘Cabin crew get paid a pittance in return for dreadful abuse,’ she says. ‘I think they’ve lost all confidence to say no.’
Mandy Smith, who worked for Virgin Atlantic between 1996 and 2012, says her job was made a misery by drunks on board.
‘People shouted, spat and swore at me when drunk,’ she says. ‘lots thought it was funny to stick their hands up my skirt — they wouldn’t have had the nerve if they hadn’t been drinking.
‘The first time it happened I was shocked but I learnt to bash their hands away and, sadly, saw it as part of the job,’ says Mandy, 43, from Brighton, who is married with a six-year-old daughter.
‘On one long-haul flight to las Vegas, a couple who were flying out to get married with their wedding party had a massive argument in the aisle after the groom-to-be accused his bride of sleeping with the best man. They were escorted off as soon as we landed and immediately deported.’
Mandy — who has written a book, Cabin Fever, about her experiences as an air hostess — had tried to stop the bride drinking.
‘I told her I wouldn’t serve her more alcohol unless she ate but later discovered she’d stashed her dinner under her seat.’
She says she and the other crew did everything they could to limit drunken behaviour. ‘We confiscated alcohol brought in from duty free and kept notes on a board that flagged up the seat numbers of those who’d had too much drink.’
Steps are finally being taken to tackle the problem. The Home Office has said it is considering tougher rules on alcohol, while Ryanair has demanded that airports ban sales of alcohol before 10am and limit passengers to two drinks before boarding.
Fellow low-cost airline Jet2 has already banned alcohol sales on flights before 8am.
A spokesman for EasyJet told the Mail it has a duty to ensure ‘the safety and wellbeing of all on board’ and that its staff are trained to evaluate and act quickly on all disruptive incidents.
He said EasyJet does not tolerate abusive or threatening behaviour and refuses alcohol to those who appear to be under the influence, adding: ‘Typically it is the alcohol consumed and/or bought in the airport that is the major factor of disruption in the air, so we strongly believe licensing laws need to be introduced at airports to control the sale of alcohol — and the consumption of duty-free alcohol on board should be made illegal.’
Mandy is adamant that better regulation is required. ‘You shouldn’t be able to buy champagne with your breakfast at airports,’ she says.
‘And passengers who abuse cabin crew should be banned from flying for life.’