Project Disrupt: One Airport’s Solution for Rowdy Passengers
Jackie Reddy May 03, 2019
London’s Gatwick Airport is teaming up with local police in the English county of Sussex to introduce Project Disrupt, an initiative aimed at stemming instances of disruptive passenger behavior at the airport. The summer of 2018 saw 379 instances of aggressive incidents, up from the 48 seen in 2017.
With the number of disruptive incidents on the increase, London’s Gatwick Airport (LGW) is taking steps to mitigate the impact of this kind of behavior on its operations, Yahoo reports. Earlier this week, LGW revealed that it is teaming up with police in the English county of Sussex – the locality in which the facility is situated – to introduce Project Disrupt, an initiative intended to halt instances of disruptive passenger behavior.
Project Disrupt will see police patrolling the facility and businesses within the airport will also be encouraged to monitor any aggressive passenger incidents. Additionally, the outlet reports that “The airport is also introducing handheld devices for recording incidents in a streamlined process dedicated to dealing with problems before they escalate.”
Those caught engaging in disruptive behavior could be fined up to £5,000 ($6,584) and be imprisoned for two years.
In the summer of 2018, 379 instances of disruptive behavior were reported at LGW, up from 48 incidents in 2017.
Speaking of the decision to implement this initiative, James Biggs, LGW’s prevention team inspector, said, “While the vast majority of passengers are well-behaved, and travel through the airport and arrive at their destination without a problem, there is a very small minority who ruin it for themselves and for others.”
“By engaging with passengers at the earliest opportunity – through patrols, face to face contact by police and airport staff and the distribution of posters and leaflets – we are making them fully aware of the rules and their own responsibility,” he added.
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It is time that British rowdies are recognized. Next, they should go back and declare all the East India Trading Company that colonized India and near by countries as criminals.
Those arguing that low cost fares necessarily cause rowdy passengers I remind you of several instances where elite travellers lost their marbles: Drunk BlackBerry Exec causes diversion on AC flight : https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/ex-rim-exec-whose-drunken-antics-caused-plane-diversion-deported/article9988338/ KE CEO Nut Rage incident : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nut_rage_incident
I think that jhnyflyer makes a much more generic point though. If airlines and airports spent a bit of time thinking about WHY people get frustrated and upset, then there would be much fewer instances of disruption. And that includes general policy like customs and checking baggage. It's not all about minimising costs. Air travel must be one of the few industries where focus on the passenger is so low! Most industries market with the customer as the central figure, not a byproduct!
@jhnflyer, you must have been flying on separate tickets or your luggage would have been checked through and you wouldn't have had to retrieve it and re-check it - a process which, I might remind you (since you seem to have glossed over this) applies to EVERY through passenger entering ANY airport in the USA on ANY airline. So please don't blame BA or LGW for being "abusive" for requiring something which you could have avoided, but which no through passenger with luggage entering the US can avoid. That is not to say that a two-hour wait to clear immigration is acceptable - it isn't. Nor was the three-hour wait I once had in DFW to retrieve and re-check my luggage. Nor is the two-hour-plus waits I have had many times going into JFK. Nor was the 3.5-hour wait I once had to get through security on trying to *depart* LAX. These delays happen EVERYWHERE. However, I respect your decision to avoid BA and London. That's your prerogative. It just a shame that it seems to be based on a rather one-sided view of the issue.
Is it just me or does "Project Disrupt" sound like some evil plot to screw up everyone's travel plans (maybe by flying lots of drones into restricted airspace, since that's been a thing lately)?