To think this father was an idiot (Aggressive woman on plane calmed by 8-year-old)

[LifeIsAMeatball]

I sometimes wonder if I exist in another world of thinking! Just read this about a hero child on the BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czr2mmv026go

For those that don’t like clicking links: A drunk woman became belligerent on a flight to the point the crew felt the plane might need to divert.

A father stepped in and offered to calm her down by sitting her between him and his child. She calmed down and the father is now lauding his son as a hero.

No doubt the child did a cracking job, but what parent thinks that sitting an angry, sweary woman (who’d already had a bottle of whisky confiscated) next to your child mid air is sensible parenting!

I know OP. If more people do this we might have children getting a sense of achievement, having been exposed to mild discomfort or danger.

And then they might grow into resilient and capable adults! Perish the thought.

Exactly. It sounds like it was a mutual decision between him and his son, anyway, and I'm sure he'd have moved his son away very fast if the tactic hadn't worked quite quickly.

This thread is a bit of a fuss about nothing, TBH.

It sounds like his son who chose to be involved. I'm sure that if anyone, including airline staff, thought the situation was actually dangerous the boy wouldn't have been allowed anywhere near the woman.

@DownyBirch

I'm sure that if anyone, including airline staff, thought the situation was actually dangerous the boy wouldn't have been allowed anywhere near the woman.

Very much agree.

It would have to be close to a crisis for a professional crew to think about involving passengers as back up, let alone an 8 year old...and if there had been disruption of that magnitude the police would have been very involved on arrival.

This sounds more like a case of lady a bit worse for wear, equipped with BYO drink, being called out by the cabin crew and reacting to it...

Threatened with a diversion she calms down.

Dad and Son then get involved.

What a steaming pile of utter dribbling shite 😅😂

So anyway, as we all know, the father behaved like a total fuckwit, and he shouldn't have done that.

👏🏼

This.

What this article probably won’t go on to explain is how that happened in the first place - as in how they felt them stepping in would have helped. Maybe she took a liking to the son, maybe he smiled at her and it was enough to see that they were going to have a productive conversation. It probably wasn’t as straightforward as man sees drunk woman and decides to get his son to sit next to her and calm her down.

Fantastic father and fantastic son.

Well done to them both.

The dad obviously assessed the situation and did so correctly.

FWIW I work in a male dominated field with some aggressive men.
As a woman, I will be the one to try and de-escalate the situation first because I am less threatening than the big men.
If it doesn’t work, then I can still call the big men to take over if I need to.

This woman was seated next to a child, who was not a threat to her and this likely calmed her down.
The dad was there to step in if needed and of course if it didn’t work they would have just gone back to whatever they were trying before.

One of the nurses at my work is from Salford and she could de escalate a riot without even taking a pause from drinking her tea. Salford people are the absolute bomb.

You say that, but how many other items are restricted or banned on flights that 99% of people wouldn't dream of using inappropriately? E.g. liquids over 100ml. Why does alcohol get a free pass?

Unlike most items that are banned or restricted on flights, alcohol has the power to change the behaviour of a passenger from harmless to dangerous, yet it's not only allowed, but promoted.

And if you can't wait till you get to your destination to relax with your G&T then you have poor self-control.

Your post reads like you were on the plane with them too?

Every liquid is allowed after security, you cant take alcohol through security either, just like any other liquid. Do you really think you cant take a bottle of water on a plane over 100ml.

You say that, but how many other items are restricted or banned on flights that 99% of people wouldn't dream of using inappropriately? E.g. liquids over 100ml. Why does alcohol get a free pass?

Liquids over 100ml aren't banned on flights.

Even at airports with the 100ml restrictions you can usually purchase >100ml bottles of water, alcohol, sun tan lotion, whatever, once airside, and take them onboard the aircraft.

The drunken woman is clearly the only person responsible for her aggressive behaviour, @PollyBell - but the man is responsible for taking the reckless decision to sit a drunk and aggressive woman next to his young son. I’m not saying he is responsible for her behaviour, but he is responsible for exposing his son to that behaviour.

It's maybe worth bearing in mind we only really have one or two version of events here...

It would be really interesting to hear the cabin crews' account....but I suspect we might not.

Yes, so they are restricted - you can't be trusted to take your own even though, as I said, most people wouldn't dream of taking a liquid on board to use nefariously. A case of the actions of a negligible minority affecting things for all passengers.

Yet, the actions of intoxicated people on planes are allowed to continue, even though the act of becoming intoxicated (unlike the act of carrying a harmless item on board) creates a risk.

It's illogical until you factor in that all these things are revenue generators for the airlines.

@MyBraveFace

I'm not sure what point you're trying to make with regards to restrictions...water, alcohol, sunblock are equally restricted at those airports stuck with the 100ml limit, and usually they are equally unrestricted once airside.

As for a complete ban...the vast vast majority of flights pass without these types of incidents.

I'm retired now but in 30 years of commercial flying (long haul, legacy carrier) I saw one case of the handcuffs being used in flight one case of police meeting the aircraft and zero diversions due passenger behaviour.

If there's a higher incidence with some airlines/some routes then maybe there's a case for a selective ban.

I could very well wait till I reach my destination before I have a G&T, but I’m a grown-up and choose not to.
Who made you the fun police?
Too many people (mostly miserable ones) are too happy to shout ‘Ban it!’ - live and let live.

I'm not the fun police. I would welcome being allowed to smoke on flights, for instance, as I am a smoker, but I recognise it's for other passengers' greater good that it's banned so I accept it. I don't know why drinkers are incapable of taking the same socially responsible viewpoint.

Where to start...

If you get onboard and after takeoff light up a cigarette everyone downstream of you in the airflow will feel the effect.

If you get onboard and after takeoff have a G&T or glass of wine with your meal chances are hardly anyone will notice, let alone be effected by it.

Since the article which is the subject of the OP is about someone who was drunk, affecting the whole plane and putting it at risk of diversion, I don't see how you can possibly say this.

We know that most people would drink responsibly just as we know most people would not take items on board a plane to use in acts of violence, but the latter are still restricted - it is hypocrisy on behalf of the airlines.

To add, it specifically says they kicked off because they were demanding more alcohol and were rightly refused. If alcohol wasn't offered on any plane by law, that wouldn't have happened.

Ok..

You seem to be taking this incident and seem to be wanting to use it to justify a total ban.

I've just run a quick back of an envelope calc related to my anecdata earlier and I reckon it was roughly 500,000 passengers carried over a thirty year period, and over that time one restrained pax, one case of police to aircraft on arrival...we're not talking passengers being disrupted frequently.

Now TBF I was fortunate enough to work at an airline where gate staff and cabin crew could and did deny boarding to those considered drunk (and no whinges from the top about punctuality if that happened), and crew would stop serving to anyone considered getting close to the limit.

I'd suggest that worked pretty well.

If other airlines are finding it a more serious issue (no names...) then maybe they need to be told to look at their own policies before there's talk of a blanket ban....

Neither the father nor the crew would have been able to intervene swiftly enough in a confined space if the intoxicated woman had become violent. This was reckless.

Being subjected to the violent outbursts of a drunk as a child stays with you forever.

Yep. Her behaviour was entirely down to her. Poor child, bring lumbered with her as his mother.