Unruly passenger - what do you do?

Old May 8, 2013, 1:20 pm
  #1  
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Unruly passenger - what do you do?

We were on the nce-lgw on Monday afternoon, and in the row behind us were two seemingly drunk guys, very loud, arsing about quite a lot. So far, so unremarkable.

However, on finals to lgw the guy in the middle seat got out of his seat so he could have a better view (over his mate) out of the window. We then had a go-around at lgw, which made some pax a bit nervous.

After a couple of mins we turned finals again, at which point the middle-seat guy proceeded to call his other mate on the ground to make arrangements for collection. He continued to talk to him all the way down until we were taxiing off the runway, despite several other pax remonstrating with him for making the call.

What do you do? Nothing to worry about, or a safety issue?

Cheers
Jimmy
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Old May 8, 2013, 2:01 pm
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hard to do much really at the point when the behaviour was out of hand....

FA's are seated for landing, i would personally not get up to deal with this and potentially piss off the FA's who assume you are going to the pisser first only to then say what the issue is and also putting yourself at risk....
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Old May 8, 2013, 3:42 pm
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Id have pressed the call bell although presumably the cabin crew would be strapped in by now and I believe they have got mirrors so should be able to see what pax are doing ?
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Old May 8, 2013, 3:47 pm
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Behavior like this needs to be dealt with before it gets to this stage.

I am quite surprised at how many passengers are allowed to board flights when they are obviously very much the worse for wear, and how many I see being served on board when they've already had way too much.
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Old May 8, 2013, 4:25 pm
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Having arrived on stand I would have informed the cabin crew I was making a citizens arrest on the grounds that the pillock had been endangering the lives of all those on board. I'm sure there wouldn't have been any problem getting witnesses.

Was he a big guy?
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Old May 8, 2013, 4:48 pm
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a.) the real risk in that situation was probably nothing to worry about.
b.) during the final stages of approach any of your actions would have caused more harm than good
c.) on the ground i would have [depending on legal situation in jurisdiction applicable] done something to frllow pax.
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Old May 8, 2013, 5:03 pm
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Originally Posted by HIDDY
Having arrived on stand I would have informed the cabin crew I was making a citizens arrest on the grounds that the pillock had been endangering the lives of all those on board. I'm sure there wouldn't have been any problem getting witnesses.

Was he a big guy?
Think you're watching too much tv from the 80's

I'm sure there would lots of witnesses to say he was on the phone but I'd love to hear your witnesses making the case that such a phone call endangered anyone's life beyond a reasonable doubt (as it would be a criminal case). In fact I'd still like to hear the same evidence on a balance of probability basis as that is where statistics might be used!
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Old May 8, 2013, 5:10 pm
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To the Op: Did no one complain to the FA once the seat belt sign went off?

I think it is very bad form of the Flight crew not to intervene. They should phone the captain and ask for the police to come to plane before letting any passengers leave the plane.

I would have reported the FA in-charge for failing in his obligations. They must have seen what is going on.

I do appreciate that the FA were probably tired, coming to the end of their shift and just wanted to go home. Police would involved them staying on to make a report etc. etc. It would be the same for complaining passengers who would just want to leave and get home fast. The other problem here is that the FA are likely to call the police on the passenger on making the complaint since the comments would be made at the FA directly even though the FA had been negligent.

There are many good FA around. There are also many should not be working as FAs.

Last edited by KenJohn; May 8, 2013 at 5:16 pm
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Old May 8, 2013, 11:03 pm
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I saw a similar event, many years ago.

What happened was miscreant was told to sit down and strap in, didn't, go around, crew attended, he behaved, landed and then police took him away at the gate.
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Old May 9, 2013, 12:03 am
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Originally Posted by HIDDY
Having arrived on stand I would have informed the cabin crew I was making a citizens arrest on the grounds that the pillock had been endangering the lives of all those on board. I'm sure there wouldn't have been any problem getting witnesses.

Was he a big guy?
That seems melodramatic. He was endangering his own life more than anything, and even that not by much. Tell the crew, let them handle it. However it seems in this case they should have already cut him off had he been drinking on board.
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Old May 9, 2013, 12:55 am
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Yes, it's a crew issue. You can only ask him to turn the phone off. The crew can instruct him to, and if he disobeys the instruction, he can be arrested on landing (for disobeying a lawful instruction etc) and charged under the Air Navigation Order.
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Old May 9, 2013, 12:59 am
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Did the guy standing up actually cause the go-around or was this independent? If the former, then it seems even more surprising the crew weren't more involved.
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Old May 9, 2013, 1:01 am
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This passenger was an idiot, but in the circumstances further intervention could have just made matters even worse / less safe. My experience is that pillocks get their come uppance at some point, maybe not today, but sooner or later, so you can walk away from a situation like that knowing they will get their just desserts before too long.
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Old May 9, 2013, 1:10 am
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  1. Nothing
  2. No
  3. No

And it is final not finals.
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Old May 9, 2013, 1:27 am
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Originally Posted by HIDDY
Having arrived on stand I would have informed the cabin crew I was making a citizens arrest on the grounds that the pillock had been endangering the lives of all those on board. I'm sure there wouldn't have been any problem getting witnesses.

Was he a big guy?
That is brilliant!

Haven't had a chuckle like that for a while.
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