Major airlines are reported as contemplating cooperating to form a "blacklist" of known "Air rage" passengers, but it appears they must first commit an incident to be included on the Blacklist.
December 1998.
Manchester England. A Crown Court Judge
vowed to continue his campaign to force airlines to review their policy
of serving drinks to passengers after hearing how a man drunkenly groped
two stewardesses.
Judge Anthony Ensor who jailed Peter Heys
34, for 18 months was told that Heys was plied with drink on the Britannia
Airways flight from Manchester to Thailand. Daily
Mail December 1st 1998.
BA cabin crew training now increases emphasis
on manhandling drunken and aggressive passengers including handcuffing
and other forms of restraint. Those qualified in aviation are surprised
that such training does not draw attention to the accelerated rate of intoxication
experienced in the artificial atmosphere of pressurized aircraft.
Passengers are also usually blissfully unaware that the volatility of the
already flammable nature of spirits such as Gin and Vodka is increased
at high altitude turning each bottle into a potential bomb, especially
in the event of loss of pressurization or severe turbulence.
A ban on smoking has been in place on BA flights for a number of years
- this controversial measure has many supporters but its main purpose
is to reduce maintenance costs on pressurization and air conditioning systems,
rather than passenger comfort.
BA allocate a large area of aircraft
storage space to intoxicating liquor but apparently can't find space to
carry a life-saving medical defibrillator. The compact, comparatively
cheap, simple to use machines are carried by most other major airlines.
A doctor aboard a recent BA flight criticized the airline when his unsuccessful
attempt to resuscitate a fellow passenger in cardiac arrest was handicapped
by the non availability of a defibrillator. The doctor later said
" There was a chance that he may have survived ------I would advise anyone
with a heart problem not to fly BA"
A spokesman for the Resuscitation Council said, "Defibrillation, which is only way to restart the heart, must take place within eight minutes". BA said, "the use of defibrillators was under active review".
This webmaster personally witnessed a disturbing
event while waiting at the arrivals barrier at Terminal No.1 London (Heathrow
Airport) in July 1998. An elderly gentleman suddenly collapsed with
no signs of life. It was nearly 30 minutes before the worlds busiest
airport was able to produce a defibrillator.