Banish Airways
Airline chiefs set to slap life ban on drunken bust-up passenger
Norman Silvester Shamed plane passenger David Marchetti is facing a lifetime British Airways ban.
He was arrested by US police and border protection officials after his unruly behaviour caused a BA flight from London to Orlando to divert to Boston 10 days ago. The 24-year- old, from Glasgow, was released by police last Sunday after spending the weekend in custody and put on a flight to Heathrow.
It is thought Marchetti will be summoned to appear at Boston Municipal Court later this year accused of interfering with the flight crew.
Under US law, he faces a fine or up to two years in prison. Once any criminal proceedings are complete, BA are expected to write to Marchetti banning him for life from their flights.
A BA spokeswoman said: “Our customers and crews deserve to enjoy their flights and not to suffer any form of abuse.
“Disruptive behaviour will not be tolerated and the appropriate action will always be taken.” An airline insider added: “BA usual ly ban passengers indefinitely for behaviour like this.”
Marchetti is said to have downed numerous bottles of alcohol during the eight-hour flight and staggered around telling staff he wanted to get off. The pilot called air traffic control to tell them he would have to divert to Logan airport in Boston because he had an abusive passenger on board who was intoxicated.
John Hutchinson, of the British Association of Aviation Consultants and a former Concorde pilot, said: “The airline have the power to ban him for life and I would be very surprised if they don’t.
“The pilot did the right thing in rerouting the flight to Boston. It is what I would have done.
”I had a passenger who was drunk on a Concorde flight and he was thrown off before the flight even took off. He was fined £1000 and never allowed to fly on Concorde again.”
A US Customs and Border Protection spokesman said: “The Massachusetts State Police have issued a summons to the subject for interfering with a flight crew.
“The summons requires him to return to Massachusetts for a court appearance.”
Last month two United Airlines pilots were arrested on suspicion of being drunk minutes before they were due to f ly to Newark, New Jersey, from Glasgow airport.
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