LEGAL IAN SKUSE High f lyers
Incidents of drink-related bad behaviour have led to a reassessment of alcohol use both in the air and on the ground
OLLOWING MANY REPORTED INCIDENTS of air passengers behaving badly on board or at the airport while under the influence of drink, it is not surprising that the sale of alcohol at British airports is being reviewed by the British government. During the two years to March 2016, at least 442 passengers were held on suspicion of being intoxicated on an aircraft or in an airport. Examples include one passenger secretly drinking alcohol he had brought on to the flight, whe then began to “punch the seats” when cabin crew tried to placate him, and a flight diverted to offload six passengers on a stag party travelling from Luton to Bratislava. Not only is such behaviour unacceptable and disruptive, but it may result in endangering the safety of an aircraft during a flight or having an impact upon other innocent passengers. Despite these extreme examples, most airlines offer alcoholic refreshments and airports encourage passengers to drink alcohol before travel, with typically a large selection of bars and restaurants.
F
Ian Skuse is a partner in Blake Morgan’s Aviation team (blakemorgan.
co.uk) and is based in their London office. Ian was a partner with Piper Smith Watton LLP, which merged with Blake Morgan LLP in August 2015.
PICKLED PASSENGERS Aviation Minister Lord Ahmad advised in July that passengers boarding flights should be responsible and have a responsibility to other passengers, and that a review is planned to look at the measures which currently prevent drunk passengers from getting on the aircraft. The review will look at the possibility of screening passengers, and reviewing the
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way that bars, and other alcohol outlets in airports, operate. Currently, airport bars are not subject to usual licensing hours. At the same time as the minister’s announcement, the British Air Transport Association and the Airport Operators Association have published a Code of Practice for dealing with disruptive passengers, to include training of staff to stop selling alcohol to people who have clearly drunk too much already. Glasgow and Manchester airports have tested selling duty-free alcohol in sealed bags to stop passengers drinking it before boarding a flight. For drunken incidents on
board, there are serious penalties. The Air Navigation Order 2000, allows the captain of the aircraft to disembark unruly or violent passengers, and Article 68 of the Order forbids any person entering any aircraft when drunk or to be drunk on an aircraft. There are regularly incidents where unruly and drunk passengers are offloaded or the aircraft forced to divert to an unscheduled stop. Airlines are able to recover the financial loss arising from the diversion from the passenger but do not always do so. For those appearing in British courts, drunken passengers should expect a prison sentence.
PIE-EYED PILOTS
Under the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003, it is a criminal offence for any person to perform an aviation function or carry out an activity that is ancillary to an aviation function, at the time when his abilities are impaired because of drink or drugs.
An ‘aviation function’ includes acting as the pilot of an aircraft, as flight navigator or flight engineer, or as a member of the cabin crew. The prescribed limit of alcohol is 9 microgrammes of alcohol in a 100 millilitres of breath, 20 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres in the blood or 27 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres in the case of urine. For a conviction, the pilot or other cabin crew should expect imprisonment for a period of up to two years. During July 2016, two Canadian pilots were charged with being drunk as they prepared to fly a passenger jet between Scotland and Toronto. The pilots have been suspended while the airline carries out an internal investigation, and the pilots await their fate in the Scottish courts. Airports particularly have a fine line to tread, while currently allowing the commercial sales of alcohol at any time and encouraging duty-free alcohol sales, but at the same time seeking to monitor the behaviour of passengers under the influence. Check-in staff should be aware of the risks of allowing any passenger to board who appears to be intoxicated and certainly to withhold additional alcohol, where appropriate, during the course of the flight. We await with interest the
report and decisions of Lord Ahmad in due course.
BBT September/October 2016
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