A former Ryanair captain has revealed what the worst routes are for drunk British passengers hours after current Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary called for a two-drink limit at British airports for passengers.
Brian Smith, who left the company earlier this year, said the worst routes were normally those which involved flying to the likes of Ibiza and Majorca, places where Britons like to engage in extracurricular summer activities. He told the Telegraph that among the worst types of flights were those taking off from Glasgow and Manchester airports.
He explained: “Some locations are worse than others – the Manchester and Glasgow departures were particularly bad. I don’t want to point the finger at people regionally…but that is true you know.”
Mr Smith also said that the worst culprits were not the stag or hen dos but the couples. He explained: “When one or both of them have been drinking hard, quite often this undercurrent of what was p*****g them off earlier comes out.”
Ryanair boss Mr O’Leary made his suggestion of a two-drink limit as he feared disruptive behaviour on flights was on the rise claiming that a mix of alcohol with “powder and tablets” was fuelling the increase in bad behaviour.
Speaking to the Telegraph he said: “It’s not that easy for airlines to identify people who are inebriated at the gate, particularly if they are boarding with two or three others. As long as they can stand up and shuffle they will get through.
“Then when the plane takes off we see the misbehaviour. We don’t want to begrudge people having a drink. But we don’t allow people to drive, yet we keep putting them up in aircraft at 33,000 feet.
The airports of course are opposed to it and say that their bars don’t serve drunken passengers. But they do serve the relatives of the drunken passenger. In the old days, people who drank too much would eventually fall over or fall asleep. But now those passengers are also on tablets and powder.”
Following Mr O’Leary’s call for a limit on drinks at airports, Wetherspoons owner Sir Tim Martin has waded into the conversation to dismiss the two-drink limit proposal.
Sir Martin also told the Telegraph that his pubs had received “no complaints…from the airport authorities or airlines…in recent years. …If our pub teams do see a possibly disruptive passenger, they alert airport police and security.”
On the actions of some disruptive passengers, a spokesperson for AirportsUK told the BBC that such behaviour “is unacceptable”.
They added: “Airports are committed to providing a safe and enjoyable travel experience for all passengers and we’re pleased that the vast majority of travellers continue to enjoy their journeys responsibly.”