Last November a passenger on a British airline flight smashed a bottle of vodka over the head of a stewardess. Last June a British Airways jumbo jet heading for London was forced to make an emergency landing in Tenerife after a drunken passenger tried to open a cabin door over the Atlantic.
These are extreme cases, but travelling by plane these days can pose difficulties. Yet, even though the Irish have an international reputation for drinking and brawling, violence on our airlines is not a big problem.
There are some passengers who get a bit inebriated and maybe too merry, which can be annoying, but the number of serious incidents has been very small.
Next to an emergency or a hijacking, a drunk running amok on a plane is every air traveller's worst nightmare. The drunken passenger who wants to break into the cockpit to tell the captain how to fly the plane or the indignant passenger who wants to complain about somebody smoking is to be dreaded.
An incident occurred only six months ago in which a passenger caused consternation when he forced his way into the cockpit of an airliner to vociferously complain about somebody smoking.
The final sanction when there is trouble on board is to divert to the nearest airport. This decision is made by the captain after weighing up all the circumstances and assessing whether the aircraft could be endangered. A diversion is always a last resort because it is very costly and has many other drawbacks.
A spokeswoman for Aer Lingus said that bad behaviour was rare on its flights, although it had been on the increase in recent years. This was because of the huge rise in the number of passengers being carried.
She said that stringent steps were taken to ensure that any people liable to cause trouble would not be able to board a plane. Such people were turned back after they left the duty-free area.
"Our staff are trained to stop them before they get on. Our cabin crew are trained to deal with this if it arises. We would take a very serious line with anyone who caused a disturbance. Safety is our priority," she said.
Ryanair made the same case, pointing out that even though it was looked on as a low-fare airline there were very few incidents involving bad behaviour. It carried thousands of soccer supporters every year and 99 per cent of them were well-behaved.
A spokeswoman for the airline said: "We have strict rules. If anyone is drunk at the check-in, they are not allowed on. If people are drunk after the duty-free, they are not allowed to board. They can complain that they have paid for a ticket and make a fuss, but we refuse to allow them on."
The airline had experienced a serious incident some months ago in which a member of the cabin crew had been assaulted by a male passenger. The incident occurred on a Saturday and the man was sentenced to 28 days' imprisonment on the following Monday. "That is how seriously and how efficiently these matters are dealt with", the spokeswoman said.
In Britain, the increase in boorish behaviour by some passengers has prompted the airline industry to call for the introduction of tougher disciplinary measures. Airtours International has asked for a dossier to be compiled by the Civil Aviation Authority which would identify troublemakers and stop them from flying. Mr Richard Branson, the head of Virgin Atlantic, has also strongly criticised troublemakers and called for urgent action.
Alcohol is one of the chief causes of trouble on flights. The availability of duty-free alcohol encourages many people to drink too much. Mr Ted Murphy, the deputy president of the International Federation of Airline Pilots' Associations, which covers 95 countries, said that he would approve of a passenger "black list". Pilots wanted legislation brought in whereby any disturbance would be treated as an offence in the country where the plane landed, he added.
