cesco.g

Last nights LX 19/31 March returned to EWR due to a pax "upfront" creating problems according to some new reports.
Police met the flight. Anybody happen to be on that flight?

https://www.blick.ch/ausland/taetlic...d19592569.html
(in German)

frugaltraveler10012

Yes I actually was on it in biz a few rows behind but everything took place at the front of the plane. I think the passenger was upset his TV looked like Delta economy.

view

I had to laugh at this, is this for real? And that complaint caused a diversion back to EWR and a full cancellation? Quite amazing then, what this one pax managed to achieve. I hope they bill the person.

worldclubber

Same here, made me giggle.

But then again, I wouldn't have been happy as a fellow F pax en route to ZRH. If they do bill him, which I hope, it's gonna be expensive!

MichielR

Including comment from a pax in F, who apparently was more shocked than upset:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Switzerland...ent/?rdt=37422

worldclubber

What an idiot.

Have to admit, that some of the comments on Reddit leave me almost equally speechless.

MichielR

Thats why I'm posting here, not Reddit

worldclubber

Very smart!

ijgordon

No, not for real. See the subsequent link to Reddit (for whatever that's worth) -- sounds like someone went bezerk and tried to storm the cockpit.

worldclubber

The person wouldn't have made it into the cockpit, so nor real danger, but apparently injured an FA and, of course, FAs and pax could not be expected to put up with this person for many hours to ZRH.

demue

Great job by the crew and I would also hope there are consequences for the offending pax.

On my VIE-BKK flight in mid-Feb we had a pax in Biz in 7A (I was in 3A) that I had already seen in the OS lounge.

While still in the lounge he was quite heavily indulging on beer & some liquor and while still overall reasonably polite when approaching, he started trying to talk to folks on various tables who didn't appreciate it, did his phone calls quite audible on speaker and overall got a bit more slurry in his speech as well as a bit louder likely due to his well lubricated state.

On board he was okay throughout the meal service, but later after everyone had settled down and was sleeping the guy suddenly started to scream on top of his lungs and kicking wildly in his seat maybe having had a bad dream or something like that. As he was quite intoxicated in my view, he must have been disoriented when waking up and lost his marbles for a few minutes.

Kudos to the female purser and cabin crew who approached him and looked to calm him down recognising his state. I think it was smart (though that may sound weird) that the female cabin crew cautiously approached him, offered him water and talked calmly to him showing concern for his well being rather than a couple of more or less bulky guys which may have been perceived threatening in the guys confused state and could have escalated the situation. The ladies did a great job to mellow him down after a few minutes.

I went to bathroom after this and in the galley the purser, some male OS staff travelling on standby in the crew seat were winding down from the episode, but still on alert keeping an eye on the guy.

THe purser apologised for the disturbance though I thanked her and her team and shared that this person had probably 6-8 beers in the lounge and some hard liquor while I observed him and they told me they had already cut him off from more drinks during the meal service based on his speech pattern. She also asked me that if things were to get out of hand and crew needed help to restrain the pax, if I would be willing to assist her if required/ prompted by her. Both the OS staff traveler and I agreed, but luckily the guy slept and then got filled up with water and coffee to arrive in somewhat passable state in BKK.

Long account, but basically things can go sour in a second and I was quite amazed what a good grip the crew had to handle the situation.

frugaltraveler10012

I am not sure why the crew allowed the passenger to board on LX019
The passenger appeared intoxicated before boarding

worldclubber

It's kinda hard to tell who is too intoxicated. Some cases are clear, but I would argue that particularly in F (and also J), there is a high proportion of pax who enjoyed some alcohol at the FCL before boarding, as more or less expensive alcohol is one of the trademarks of premium travel and champagne has been an important part of air travel since the invention of the hot air balloon. To greet people in most FCLs with "would you like to start with a glass of champagne" and then deny all of them boarding because they had some alcohol would not go down well.

swiss_global

How was the irrops for the rest of the pax handled by Swiss? Did they provide hotel accomodation? Rebooking?

fereke

Clever way to deal with overbooking I must say... Comes cheaper to offer a few drinks resulting in Intoxicated Denied Boarding than to pay EC261 😁