pomkiwi

Just off the late evening flight from Nairobi to DXB which turned into an unpleasant experience. I had planned to miss the usual food and wine and try and get a good 4 hours sleep in before the onward flight to London.

There were 5 pax in F and the last to arrive very loudly were a couple of retirement age whose accent suggested British descent. They very loudly discussed the fact that this was their first time in F and shortly after takeoff the woman began shouting and swearing, mainly at her partner but also at the crew and the poor bloke across the aisle from her. There was a ot of banging and clattering and she was hitting her partner as well as barging into the guy from over the aisle as wwe went to disembark. lIt was apparent she was very drunk and continued in this manner for about 3 hours before passing out.

The crew were very apologetic when I went to ask whether the couple were going onto London on the same flight as me with a view to requesting a change of my onward flight. I think they did stop serving her alcohol but she had had several glasses very early on.

Unfortunately we arrived at a remote stand and the bus ride was accompanied by her ranting on about the Chinese taxi driver (in racist terms), announcing she was about to throw up and threatening to pul the emergency alarm if we didn't arrive immediately.
I gather that they are connecting to NZ although the transfer security was a complete zoo (shoes off for everyone didn't help) and I'm not sure how she will cope....

it was a slightly unnerving experience particularly given the unpredictable nature of her behaviour in a confined space.

Rant over but I was slightly surprised that we didn't have a welcoming committee of local police to discuss and advise the couple about behaviour on arrival. The crew couldn't really do much to change her behaviour on board (this may not have been helped by the fact that they were mainly diminuitive females and the pax was not. I would not like to be on their next flight and wonder if anything will be done to alert the gate staff and check on her state before she is allowed to board.

On a brighter note the F lounge in concourse A remains free of passengers and the shower delivered cold water (possibly someting to do with the arctic hell that the media tells me is grippng DXB, or something like that).

sydtogla

I wonder if the same would have happened if you were in the Y cabin? My guess is probably not, and she would have had some nice Arab police waiting.

pomkiwi

I think you are correct - it was sort of contained in F as the three of us could close our suite doors and pretend it was not going on. It would have been much more difficult not to provoke some reaction if she had been in Y or even J as so many more people would have been affected. For some reason (it may have been something they said) I formed an impression they had been upgraded, if so I doubt that will happen again unless it was an atempt to manage a situation that became apparent after they settled in....

Anyway I plan to have a nice soothing glass of something red and doze most of the way to LHR in an hour two :-)

extramileage

While EK elite can also behave poorly, I would posit that it's statistically less likely... so maybe this episode will help EK reconsider the recent changes to its op up policy... ;-)

RadioGirl

Sounds pretty awful.

OT:
Is that new?
That's definitely new.

Flame3601

Very surprised the police we not alerted for them to be stopped on arrival and potential miss there connection due to intoxication? I think it was either Qatar or Emirates when i went to FRA and the man in my cabin via the satellite telephone was speaking to his partner telling her what he was going to do to her after he lands ( extremely explicit) content , this is while he was drinking out of the champagne bottle with no glass.

Doc Savage

Just remove the alcohol from flights. It would solve 90% of these problems.

pdh

And hamper 99.9% of the passengers who like a beer or glass of wine on a flight

rumbataz

The obsession with alcohol. Again.

Any drunk passenger who is disruptive on a flight should be arrested, put in jail and banned for life by the airline.

Alcohol can cause people to become unpredictable and I'm surprised that Emirates, from a supposedly Islamic country, panders to the alcohol-obsessed so much.

It's patently clear when a person has had too much to drink and people like this ruin things for the majority of passengers who like a drink or two and don't get drunk out of their skulls.

DYKWIA

Yes - it's a huge issue on the 0.001% of flights that has disruption.

pomkiwi

I'm now mid-flight on EK1. I've had a great sleep and currenty enjoying a glass of Torbreck's Runrig from a mini decanter having had half a glass of dry Bordeaux white with my starter. I've had a chat with the crew member about both wines and it has been a lovely flight. I'm not the only one enjoying exploring today's wines and nobody is shouting or swearing.

Don't remove the alcohol - just remove those pax who significantly disrupt others' experience whatever the underlying cause.

skywardhunter

I was on EK1 on Sunday. Bit of an early flight for wine isn't it? :P

scotclif

Its 6pm somewhere in the world.

Never too early for fine wines.

erik19283

I don't think so. I t seems like a lot of those people with no manners actually get drunk "before" getting on the planes.

rumbataz

Prevention is better than cure. Airlines need to have a zero tolerance policy towards drunk AND abusive passengers. Am airline ban for life and a criminal record would send a strong message to the tiny minority who can't control themselves when it comes to booze.

On a more serious not, I think people underestimate the affect that a rowdy passenger(s) can have on the other hundreds of passengers on the flight and the flight crew. Whilst regular, seasoned travellers may not bat an eyelid, other passengers with conditions like anxiety, stress, depression, high blood pressure, etc., may become ill or have their conditions worsened when locked in a tube at 38,000 feet with some abusive idiot!

And on a lighter note, I'd be happy for airlines to have tazers, straightjackets and duct tape available that fellow passengers can use to subdue a drunkard. Just imagine the fun that could be had!