Photo: WorldDutyFree.com
Alcohol-fueled air rage is becoming a problem for many UK airline companies. While incidents remain fairly rare, they are serious enough to prompt an all-out ban of alcohol bought from duty free shops.
Most British airline companies already have in place a similar policy, saying you can’t open a container you brought on board the plane while you’re still on the plane. In other words, if you want to drink anything, you’d better be ready to pony up the cash and buy from the flight attendant’s cart.
Now, World Duty Free, which runs 22 stores in the country’s largest airports, including Heathrow, Manchester and Gatwick, is actively setting out to reinforce that ban. It will be doing so by selling all alcohol containers in sealed bags, The Times reports, citing a spokesperson for the chain.
So, if you buy any alcoholic beverage from a World Duty Free shop, regardless of the size of the bottle, you will get it in a sealed bag. All the bags are strong enough for you to need a knife or scissors to open it, and you won’t get either while on the plane because they’re not allowed on board.
“The impact [of these incidents] can be serious for fellow passengers, employees working in the air and at the airport,” the spokesperson says, admitting that drunken air rages are yet to become common. “The industry is working together to tackle this problem and make disruptive behavior such as this socially unacceptable.”
“The vast majority of our customers understand that the alcohol we sell can only be consumed when they reach their destination, and this message is already clearly conveyed at tills, on receipts and on bags,” the same spokesperson explains.
Only a few days ago, a flight from Gatwick to Tenerife saw one such incident, when 2 drunk men got into a fight over a woman. The female passenger was walking around the plane barefoot, and one man took issue with it, prompting a violent response from her boyfriend. One of the male passengers bit the other on the nose by the time the plane landed, and both were dragged away in handcuffs.
Now, World Duty Free, which runs 22 stores in the country’s largest airports, including Heathrow, Manchester and Gatwick, is actively setting out to reinforce that ban. It will be doing so by selling all alcohol containers in sealed bags, The Times reports, citing a spokesperson for the chain.
So, if you buy any alcoholic beverage from a World Duty Free shop, regardless of the size of the bottle, you will get it in a sealed bag. All the bags are strong enough for you to need a knife or scissors to open it, and you won’t get either while on the plane because they’re not allowed on board.
“The impact [of these incidents] can be serious for fellow passengers, employees working in the air and at the airport,” the spokesperson says, admitting that drunken air rages are yet to become common. “The industry is working together to tackle this problem and make disruptive behavior such as this socially unacceptable.”
“The vast majority of our customers understand that the alcohol we sell can only be consumed when they reach their destination, and this message is already clearly conveyed at tills, on receipts and on bags,” the same spokesperson explains.
Only a few days ago, a flight from Gatwick to Tenerife saw one such incident, when 2 drunk men got into a fight over a woman. The female passenger was walking around the plane barefoot, and one man took issue with it, prompting a violent response from her boyfriend. One of the male passengers bit the other on the nose by the time the plane landed, and both were dragged away in handcuffs.
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