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!

Since we are allowing anecdata, I've just done a google UK news search for 'drunk on plane'.

• 4 incidents within the last month made the headlines, albeit one involved a celebrity
• A further 8 incidents since the start of the year.

And those are just the ones that were serious enough to make the headlines/involved UK passengers or flights.

Great, but now divide that headline figure by sectors flown in the period by all airlines to get a feel for the risk per flight. The vast vast vast majority of flights aren't disrupted, many passengers won't ever see a disruption event in their lifetime.

Be aware that not all disruptive behaviour is alcohol related (that's often discovered after the event) ... other substances are available/frankly some people kick off for not much cause.

With the new liquids rules if you enforce an airport/aircraft ban some people might be inclined to BYO their own G&T....and policing that is tough for the crew.

Fundamentally you can't reduce the risk of disruptive behaviour on a flight to zero, so like many things in aviation if you want to go flying it's a case of managing the risk, not eliminating it completely.

I'd suggest that might best be done by having clear protocols for staff rather than applying a (I suspect very unpopular) sledgehammer to the problem...

If some airlines are outliers on the high incidence side when it comes to disruption maybe they or the regulator needs to look at their own rules/protocols, rather than that sledgehammer being applied to the whole industry.

There are, BTW, a tiny handful of dry airlines if the issue still really bothers you...

Even fewer flights are disrupted by actual terrorism, yet the restrictions on liquids remain.

That is the point I am making - the airlines bring in restrictions when it suits them for revenue purposes, and allow something that carries a risk that may be lower in terms of consequence but higher in terms of frequency of occurrence, because it suits them to be able to flog overpriced G&Ts in the airports and on the plane, or encourage people into business and first class with the bonus of flowing champagne.

a risk that may be lower in terms of consequence but higher in terms of frequency of occurrence, because it suits them

It does...fundamentally it suits the airlines to actually go flying and whilst doing so most want to offer a product that a sizeable portion of the population enjoy in moderation.

If you feel that is somehow wrong best take it up with the regulator.

We're just going to have to accept on this we disagree.

I doubt she was any serious danger to his son. Maybe unpleasant and aggressive but she probably didn't seem violent. If I was the kid I wouldn't be impressed with my dad and I wouldn't do this to my kids but I don't think what the dad did is so terrible.

Where were the Cabin Crew in all this??

No because of she had started being troublesome to the kids shed have soon been moved elsewhere by the flight crew

Quote from the father in today’s news: "I'm sort of sat there in the end and I'm thinking to myself, thank god that Phoenix is with me because if he wasn't, I don't think I would have been able to handle it."

It also seems to be confirmed the flight was given permission to divert.

So as long as she wasn’t kicking off at the kids, they didn’t move her! Surely it would have made sense to move her anyway?

He flight had been redirected once already, and was going to have to again.

The dad and son were trying to get home from their holiday early, for a family emergency. He was highly motivated to try.

He flight had been redirected once already, and was going to have to again.

I'm not sure what he means by that, you don't really need permission as such to divert and you only reaĺly get into changing course to go to a diversion airport once you've committed to going there.

He might have have heard that the flight crew (i.e. pilots) were considering diversion options (which is par for the course on any flight, disruptive passenger or not), the flightcrew may have got as far as discussing options with ATC but if he's now making out the aircraft was zig zagging it's way across Europe with the flightcrew thinking "shall we, shan't we" then TBH I have my doubts but of course I wasn"t there.

Fundamentally I do hope this isn't a story that"s growing in the retelling.

I must live on the same planet as you OP, because I would never put my kids in that situation. Credit to the young boy completely. But not his moron father.

She was moved to the seat by the father and son. At his request. Didn't you read the article