Originally Posted by
ioto1902
We've heard enough of air rage to understand that being drunk is not the issue. Public disorder is, whether, alcohol being the cause, seat reclining or even Trump
.
Recently, there were several cases of drunken Brits being removed from flight. Did all those airlines go bankrupt ?
Would you rather keep one drunken guy in your customer list and lose tens of pax bothered by the airline's soft policy ?
Public disorder, particularly due to alcohol or drugs, must be addressed severely, whether in Islamic country or not.
I think the main difference is that the UAE struggles with the reputation of being intolerant and "overly" harsh with respect to what would seem minor offences (if offences) at all in other countries - which happen to be source markets for EK.
Dubai has attempted, quite successfully I think, to be seen as the enclave of tolerance in the region - the exception - and EK's reputation and Dubai's reputation are intertwined.
If the media pick up stories - which feed into the West's current perceptions of the Arab world! - about people being arrested because they had a drink in the outstation, or half a gin and tonic and dumped into a black hole of an Emirati jail for months, I think you'd see quite a noticeable effect on EK loads and Dubai tourism, especially as the UK is their biggest source market and the UK has a drinking culture (and Dubai is seen as a party destination).
I don't think anyone is saying that abusive drunks on planes should be let off - only that it should be reasonably proportionate. If you enforced the letter of the law, anyone drinking anything alcoholic should be put in jail for 6 months and/or whipped. That to me is not proportionate, and the PR nightmare would sabotage the airline and tourist industry, given the pax profile on EK and visitors to Dubai like to drink alcohol.