Plane Drunk Panorama


Plane Drunk

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Looking forward to your summer holiday abroad?

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Better hope you're not stuck on a flight with this lot.

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SHOUTING AND SINGING.

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On Panorama tonight we investigate the rise

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in drunk and disorderly passengers and the chaos they are

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bringing to UK flights.

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HE HOWLS WITH LAUGHTER.

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When people were getting on the plane,

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they were really clearly very drunk.

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CRYING AND SHOUTING.

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A panorama survey of UK cabin crew reveals

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the scale of our problem with booze in the skies.

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Take your seat the plane is just...

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And all the colleagues who have been punched,

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kicked and one of them was head-butted by a passenger.

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We go undercover to expose the truth about alcohol sales at UK airports.

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They are making it very, very readily available.

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BLEEP!

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And we ask whether subsidising cheap flights through alcohol sales

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is leaving passengers and crew with a nasty hangover.

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More than two million flights take off from the UK every year.

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Most are uneventful, but some passengers cause problems,

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even before takeoff.

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June 21st, Wednesday afternoon.

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Passengers at Manchester Airport were waiting to board an easyJet

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flight to Antalya in Turkey.

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It was my summer holiday with my boyfriend so yeah,

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I was pretty excited.

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Before we even boarded the plane, there was a party of four.

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They were very, very drunk and loud and disruptive.

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The flight took off.

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Almost immediately passengers and crew became increasingly

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disturbed by the drunken behaviour.

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About 25 minutes into the flight, one of the two passengers started

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to get extremely abusive.

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She was shouting at the crew.

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Who was the steward to tell her she can't drink any more,

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she's on her holiday.

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She just kept swearing and swearing and kicking off.

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It was escalating.

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I was more concerned about my immediate family because

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they were getting very distressed.

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Eventually when the stewards did manage to confiscate the alcohol...

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A litre bottle of vodka.

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..probably about a third left.

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BLEEP!

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The women's behaviour forced the crew to divert

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to Stansted Airport.

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Having delayed other passengers by three hours,

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the women were removed by police and received penalty notices

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for public order offences.

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Enjoy your holiday in Stansted!

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It's embarrassing, it really is embarrassing.

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Planes are only diverted when the disruption is so extreme

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that the crew can't carry out their duties and

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ensure passenger safety.

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BLEEP!

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This police footage shows the arrest of a drunk, abusive

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passenger after his behaviour caused his flight to be

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diverted to Gatwick.

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He was jailed for nine months for offences including assault.

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It has been even worse - drunk passengers threatening to kill

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or open plane doors and even attempts to enter the cockpit.

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Arrests of passengers suspected of being drunk on a flight

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or at a UK airport have risen by 50% in the past year.

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Panorama contacted all 20 police forces with a major UK

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airport on their patch.

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The 18 that responded had made a total of 387 arrests.

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These alcohol-fuelled incidents are now being

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captured by holidaymakers armed with smartphones.

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Being drunk on a flight is a criminal offence which can land

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you in prison so why do so many of us hit the bar,

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whatever the time, as soon as we get to the airport?

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SINGING AND SHOUTING.

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Baroness Hayter is founding director of Alcohol Concern.

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The Labour peer is also vice-chair of the all-party group on alcohol

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misuse and has long held misgivings about its sale at airports.

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The way airports now work, the way they make their money,

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is basically expecting passengers to spend a lot of money

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when they are there.

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The biggest thing that happens as you go is alcohol.

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Cash spent on booze helps keep the price of air travel down.

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But has it now become too readily available?

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To find out for myself what's really going on,

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I'm heading to the airport.

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I'm meeting Baroness Hayter at Gatwick to catch an early morning

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flight to Barcelona and to do some secret filming with my smartphone.

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Hello!

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Nice to see you.

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Good to see you early morning.

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It is very early.

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What's the time?

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Six o'clock.

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Hm, I know.

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I don't normally do this.

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One in every ?5 spent in Duty Free at Gatwick is spent on alcohol.

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The first thing is after the loos - a pub.

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The Red Lion.

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And you have never been in a pub at six o'clock

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in the morning, have you?

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Never.

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So at 6am many people in this bar are boozing before breakfast.'

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So I counted six pints already.

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Yes.

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There's a couple more Bellinis.

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Make that seven.

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A glass of white wine over there.

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It's six o'clock in the morning.

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The reason alcohol can be sold at airports this early is that once

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you're through security, licensing laws governing

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everywhere else don't apply.

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If you go half a mile outside of Gatwick Airport,

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you couldn't go and buy alcohol there in a pub, or anywhere else,

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now why is this different?

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As well as bars, cafes and restaurants serving drinks,

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Gatwick, like most UK airports, has VIP lounges, open

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from as early as 4am.

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So for an entrance fee of around ?25 what do you get?

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You serve yourself and you can drink as much as you like in

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the three-hour window.

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You serve yourself and you can drink as much as you like in

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the three-hour window.

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No, no, you go first.

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We can drink as much as we want and we have just met

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some really nice people but they said their flight

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is delayed so they could well be in here 2-3 hours.

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For that they will have had, I don't know, ?50 worth of drink,

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something like that, just keep going.

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Finally, before making our way to the gate, the Baroness

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and I are offered free spirits.

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Try this...

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That was our tour, Gatwick Airport.

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Gatwick Airport.

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On our way to Barcelona.

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From what you've just seen, would you say the airport

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is responsibly selling alcohol?

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No.

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They are selling it where there's children, out of licensing hours.

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They are selling it without asking how much people have already drunk.

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They are making it very, very readily available.

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This apparent free-for-all seems likely to be contributing

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to the steady rise in drunken passengers boarding planes.

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But many in the aviation industry were reluctant to talk

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to Panorama about the problem.

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We did persuade serving cabin crew to speak to us,

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but only under the condition we kept their identity hidden.

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I've found countless litre bottles of vodka.

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We find bottles of Jagermeister, bottles of Bacardi, bottles of gin.

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I took three miniatures off a lady, she said, "They told me I can drink

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these on board the aircraft when I was in the Duty Free shop."

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I've gone into the back galley and been cornered by somebody trying

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to kiss me and making sexual moves on me, having to push them away.

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It can go from anything, from banter to sexual assault really.

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And all the colleagues who have been punched,

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kicked and one of them was head-butted by a passenger.

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It is definitely getting worse.

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So to what extent do their experiences represent what is really

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going on in the skies?

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With the help of Unite the Union, Panorama has surveyed

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4,000 UK cabin crew.

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We've learnt that the overwhelming majority had witnessed drunken,

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disruptive passenger behaviour most in the last year.

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We also found that more than half of cabin crew who responded

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to our survey had either experienced or witnessed verbal,

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physical or sexual abuse by drunk passengers on board a UK flight.

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Some airlines are reluctant to admit publicly this is a problem,

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but behind the scenes, most are training their

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staff to deal with it.

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Where is this drink, where is it?

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Excuse me, what seems to be the problem?

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Can you sit down?

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I wanted another drink, five minutes ago!

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Mark Hardy from SecuriCare is a specialist in aviation

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conflict management.

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..then we're going to turn your hips and neck at the same

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time and sweep off.

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OK.

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I'll just show it again.

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'One in five of the cabin crew who responded to our survey had been

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'physically abused during a UK flight, 'so realistic training

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is crucial.' Now get us a drink.

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Where's the crew?

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There is an obvious problem developing with at least

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one of the passengers.

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He's kicking off.

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He's kicking off.

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Oi!

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Excuse me, sir, what's the problem?

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I want another drink.

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We've been waiting ages.

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How much have we paid for this flight?

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Would you like a glass of water in the meantime?

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No, I don't.

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Do I look like the kind of guy that wants a glass of water?

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We want...

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Get us a proper drink.

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..you to have a lovely holiday...

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You want a proper drink, don't you?

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But you need to calm down because you're disrupting other

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passengers on the flight.

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Where's...

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It's intimidating and this is just a training exercise.

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Imagine being on a flight where you can't get off

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and it's happening for real.

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I imagine it would be pretty scary and a lot to deal with.

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Despite the scale of the problem, we struggled to get an airline

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to appear on camera.

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The low-cost operator Jet2 did agree to speak to us.

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The Leeds-based firm flies 50,000 passengers a day.

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I think we have to take a stand.

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We will issue a sanction to a customer.

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We will stop somebody from flying home if necessary.

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And we have issued some lifetime bans.

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A year ago, Jet2 also stopped serving alcohol on flights

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taking off before 8am.

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It may only be a limited step, but they are the only UK airline

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to carry out any kind of ban on booze.

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Do you think airports are doing enough?

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I think they could do more.

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I think the retailers could do more as well.

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Two litre steins of beer in bars, mixers and miniatures in duty-free

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shops which can only be there for one reason.

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Items that are not sold on the high street so...

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To drink on the plane?

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Yes.

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Diversions caused by drunken behaviour are rare,

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but when they happen, they don't just inconvenience

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passengers, they also cost airlines tens of thousands of pounds.

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The worst routes I would say are Alicante, Ibiza, Palma.

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They are on an aircraft, it's not a bar, it's not a nightclub.

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That's why a lot of crew do end up hating their jobs.

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They will quit because they just don't get paid enough

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to deal with this.

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When I was walking through the airport the other morning

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and the bars were busy, I would say 80% of the tables

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had alcohol on there.

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At 4:45 in the morning.

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What do you fancy drinking?

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I'll have a cappuccino, please...

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In June, Laura Hodge was about to fly from

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Manchester Airport to Ibiza.

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The former cabin crew manager off on her own holidays noticed

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the drinking of lots of her fellow passengers was getting out of hand,

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before departure.

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The atmosphere in the airport was a bit like party

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atmosphere I would say.

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Downing drinks, counting down, cheering each other on.

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The Ryanair flight was delayed by an hour.

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Laura says the airline announced it would be a dry flight serving

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no alcohol on board.

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Passengers who didn't want to miss out, didn't have to go too far.

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We noticed that there was a bar right next to the gate which looked

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maybe like a temporary bar or something that wasn't normally

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there and they were serving beer predominantly, I remember.

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They are serving booze right next to you.

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Right next to the gate, yes.

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So completely mixed message, it's just crazy.

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When the flight did eventually take off, Laura says the airline did

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serve alcohol on board despite saying they wouldn't

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and the drunken behaviour became even worse.

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When people were getting on the plane, they work really

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clearly, very drunk.

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In my peripheral vision, out the corner of my eye,

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I could see one of the ladies was obviously sat on the guy's knee.

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They were definitely doing stuff that you probably shouldn't

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be doing on a plane.

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The woman in this video, which went viral, admitted being drunk,

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but denied having sex.

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An increasing number of drunken incidents in the sky have been

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hitting the headlines, often captured on smartphones, but

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the evidence isn't just anecdotal.

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The Civil Aviation Authority responsible for flight safety

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in the UK says that in the last five years, disruptive passenger

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behaviour has seen a sixfold increase with industry experts

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believing this rise is mostly down to alcohol.

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Palma is the Majorcan capital and heart of the Balearic region

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of islands, which includes Ibiza.

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Local politician and alcohol campaign leader David Abril believes

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too many British tourists are landing here drunk.

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If there's a delay because of an incident in airports

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like Glasgow or Manchester, it creates other delays

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here in Majorca, so it can collapse the airport,

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but I think we have to act not just for that,

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but because of all of the problems created by this kind of tourism.

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Just last month, the local department of tourism asked

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the Spanish Government and the EU for new laws to address the problem.

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So you want a ban on alcohol on flights from the UK coming

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to the Balearic Islands?

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Not only from the UK, we have that same problem

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with flights from Germany.

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What punishments would you like to see put in place

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for people who break the rules if they came in?

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There must be high fines because at the end, these kind

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of people don't understand any other thing than really getting punished

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by paying a lot of money.

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Fewer drunks on UK flights would mean more peaceful journeys

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for other passengers and aviation staff, but it's too late

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for Ally Murphy, who recently quit her job as cabin crew manager

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for Virgin Airlines.

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Well, this is my last ever flight.

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She often worked on long-haul flights but after 14 years

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of service, the drunk and disruptive behaviour of passengers played a key

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part in her decision to leave.

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People just see us as barmaids in the sky.

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I was pulled into an upper-class bed by a passenger who was feeling

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particularly lucky, I guess.

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They would touch your breasts or they'd touch your bum or your legs.

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I mean, I've had hands going up my skirt before.

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It's rage-inducing and you shouldn't have to deal with that.

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There are two words to describe that, sexual harassment and it's

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completely unacceptable.

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Have you ever reported incidents like that?

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I guess I never reported it to the police because, sadly,

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and this is completely wrong and only really occurring to me now,

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you kind of just accept it as part of the job

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and it shouldn't be.

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BLEEP.

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BLEEP.

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The link between alcohol and disruptive passenger behaviour

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isn't news to the UK Aviation Industry, which believes it

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has found a solution.

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Only a year ago, a voluntary code was introduced which most of the big

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airlines and airports signed up to.

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The Code of Practice on Disruptive Passengers suggests

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that airports and airlines should work together to limit

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disruptive behaviour and sell alcohol responsibly,

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so in the years since it was introduced, how

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have things changed?

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Well, not significantly according to our industry insiders.

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The code of conduct isn't working.

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It is all well and good for the Home Office to say that it is.

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They're sat there in their offices behind their desks,

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we're on the front line, we're seeing these

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incidents on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.

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It's the alcohol mainly in the Duty Free that's

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a significant problem.

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I have not noticed any improvement in any passenger behaviour

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within the last year whatsoever.

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None at all.

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One in four cabin crew who responded to our survey were unaware

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of the code of practice.

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Of those who had heard of it, less than a quarter thought

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it was working in reducing drunken passenger behaviour.

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We've also been told by industry insiders that in practice

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not much has changed.

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I'm travelling to Manchester to see for myself and once again,

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I'm secretly filming with my smartphone.

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Manchester Airport is signed up to the voluntary code

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of practice which commits them to the responsible selling

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of alcohol to prevent or manage disruptive behaviour.

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So just arrived at Manchester Airport,

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made my way through security.

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First thing on my right is a Starbucks.

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Hang on a minute, beer, Pinot Grigio, a bit

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of champagne, Peroni.

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That's a shocker.

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Meet you for a beer in Starbucks.

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Never heard that before.

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It's 5:30pm and there are 12 outlets selling alcohol

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in this airport terminal, four of them are cafes that wouldn't

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sell it on the high street.

0:21:010:21:05

Because licensing laws don't apply once you're through security,

0:21:050:21:09

any shop can sell alcohol.

0:21:090:21:16

They surely can't be selling beer in The Pasty Shop.

0:21:160:21:20

And they are.

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Like everyone else, to get to my departure gate,

0:21:230:21:26

I have no choice but to go through the Duty Free shop.

0:21:260:21:29

Every type of alcohol you could want.

0:21:290:21:32

The store is owned by World Duty Free, which sells around

0:21:320:21:35

?365 million worth of wines and spirits at UK

0:21:350:21:38

airports every year.

0:21:380:21:41

Why buy one when you can buy two?

0:21:410:21:45

And before I'm even halfway through the store, I'm

0:21:450:21:48

being offered spirits for free.

0:21:480:21:53

There's a variety of alcohol promotions.

0:21:590:22:02

Miniatures, many with a double shot of spirits, are on a multi-buy

0:22:020:22:06

offer near the tills.

0:22:060:22:08

Four for three offers on miniatures before you get to the main counter,

0:22:080:22:12

where you pay for stuff.

0:22:120:22:15

Hang on a minute - these are normal miniatures,

0:22:150:22:19

the ones I'm used to seeing.

0:22:190:22:20

But the ones next to them are massive.

0:22:200:22:22

They're not miniatures, they're 20cl.

0:22:220:22:24

VOICEOVER: To me, it's hard to see why anyone

0:22:240:22:26

would buy miniatures here, unless it's to drink on the plane.

0:22:260:22:29

But the code of conduct says that staff must advise

0:22:290:22:31

passengers not to do so.

0:22:310:22:36

Although I've been verbally advised not to drink my purchases

0:22:400:22:43

on the plane, in reality, there's nothing stopping me.

0:22:430:22:47

I mean, that is a joke.

0:22:470:22:49

Specifically asked her if I could drink them on the plane -

0:22:490:22:52

she said no, I wasn't allowed to.

0:22:520:22:54

And then she's given me them in a bag that is completely unsealed.

0:22:540:22:58

Now, tell me, how are you going to stop someone from drinking these?

0:22:580:23:08

At the next Duty Free shop, the advice about drinking

0:23:080:23:11

purchased alcohol on a flight is very different.

0:23:110:23:13

INDISTINCT.

0:23:130:23:14

Um...

0:23:140:23:18

This advice directly contravenes the code of practice which this

0:23:210:23:25

airport is signed up to.

0:23:250:23:28

Since the year 2000, duty-free and travel retail sales

0:23:280:23:32

in Europe have doubled as the price of our flights has come down.

0:23:320:23:37

How big a role does alcohol play in keeping flights in the air?

0:23:370:23:40

The cost of flying pretty much anywhere is probably about half

0:23:400:23:44

what it was 20 years ago.

0:23:440:23:46

Therefore, the airlines, the airports, have to make money

0:23:460:23:50

somewhere, and they make a lot of money from the sale of drink,

0:23:500:23:54

either to you at a bar or at a duty-free shop.

0:23:540:23:58

Booze now accounts for around 20% of total duty-free sales

0:23:580:24:01

in UK airports.

0:24:010:24:06

So is the rising drunken behaviour which we've uncovered linked

0:24:060:24:08

to the increasing importance of revenue from alcohol?

0:24:080:24:11

I took our investigation findings to the body representing

0:24:110:24:15

the airport industry.

0:24:150:24:17

We've conducted a large survey of UK cabin crew.

0:24:170:24:20

We found a significant proportion blamed drunk and disruptive

0:24:200:24:22

behaviour on the airports not selling alcohol responsibly.

0:24:220:24:25

I don't accept that the airports don't sell alcohol responsibly.

0:24:250:24:29

The sale of alcohol, per se, is not a problem.

0:24:290:24:34

It's the misuse of it and drinking to excess and then behaving badly.

0:24:340:24:39

The voluntary code of conduct says one thing, but the messaging

0:24:390:24:43

in your airport experience is very different.

0:24:430:24:45

At Gatwick Airport, we specifically asked staff if we could drink a lot.

0:24:450:24:49

They told us, "Go for it."

0:24:490:24:52

Right, OK.

0:24:520:24:54

Well, you can drink a lot.

0:24:540:24:55

But is that responsible?

0:24:550:24:57

If we're talking about responsible selling of alcohol, paying ?20

0:24:570:24:59

or ?30 before you're about to fly, being given a three-hour

0:24:590:25:02

window to drink as much as you want and to be told,

0:25:020:25:05

"Go for it"...?

0:25:050:25:07

I think what we are encouraging is that all of our lounge staff...

0:25:070:25:10

If they are airport lounges - sometimes they're airline lounges,

0:25:100:25:13

they're a mix of providers.

0:25:130:25:16

But the point is, they should be saying, "Drink responsibly."

0:25:160:25:19

Within a Duty Free shop at Manchester Airport,

0:25:190:25:21

we asked those selling spirits, including miniatures,

0:25:210:25:24

if we could consume the alcohol on the plane.

0:25:240:25:28

One told us, "Unofficially, I think you'll get away with it."

0:25:280:25:33

What's your response to that?

0:25:330:25:35

Well, you would need to talk to World Duty Free.

0:25:350:25:38

But my view is, well, they shouldn't have said that

0:25:380:25:40

because it is not acceptable to be drinking your alcohol on the plane.

0:25:400:25:44

Full stop.

0:25:440:25:46

So, of course, that is something that those staff either have not

0:25:460:25:49

been trained properly or are behaving irresponsibly.

0:25:490:25:53

Is that worrying?

0:25:530:25:55

And that's the kind of thing...

0:25:550:25:57

Well, of course it's worrying.

0:25:570:25:59

And that's why we're training...

0:25:590:26:01

We're working with the retailers and staff to actually

0:26:010:26:03

make sure that they do understand what their...

0:26:030:26:05

What the rules are.

0:26:050:26:06

World Duty Free told us that it displays...

0:26:060:26:15

But the insiders we've spoken to believe the voluntary code isn't

0:26:240:26:27

enough to police the industry, citing the lack of alcohol licensing

0:26:270:26:32

laws at airports for the virtual free-for-all when it comes

0:26:320:26:36

to pre-flight boozing.

0:26:360:26:39

Four months ago, a House of Lords Select Committee looking

0:26:390:26:42

into licensing laws published a report which said that airports

0:26:420:26:46

need to be brought into line.

0:26:460:26:48

The Government disagreed.

0:26:480:26:51

The Home Office claimed it would be too difficult for their inspectors

0:26:510:26:54

to get through security to inspect bars and restaurants,

0:26:540:26:58

to make sure they're complying with the licensing law.

0:26:580:27:02

They said there was no need, because the voluntary code was working.

0:27:020:27:08

Committee chair and Conservative peer Baroness McIntosh

0:27:080:27:12

is baffled by this position.

0:27:120:27:15

We didn't hear one shred of evidence to show that the voluntary code

0:27:150:27:19

was either working now, or had any possible vestige

0:27:190:27:24

of success in working any time soon.

0:27:240:27:27

Meanwhile, the incidence of air rage goes up daily.

0:27:270:27:30

I would urge, on behalf of the Committee, the Home Office

0:27:300:27:34

to really, really take this problem seriously.

0:27:340:27:40

The Home Office declined our request for an interview but,

0:27:400:27:43

in a statement, said...

0:27:430:27:49

This response is expected in the autumn.

0:27:510:27:55

Sales of alcohol at most European and US airports do

0:27:550:28:00

require an alcohol licence.

0:28:000:28:03

The industry insiders we've met think it's time the UK

0:28:030:28:07

brought in the same rules.

0:28:070:28:08

I think, ultimately, we are there for safety,

0:28:080:28:11

and that shouldn't be forgotten at the cost of people making money.

0:28:110:28:15

And I feel, personally, that it will take something

0:28:150:28:17

more serious to happen - say there's an accident -

0:28:170:28:21

before the CAA and the airlines step in and make a change.

0:28:210:28:25

Campaigners believe we'll only see a reduction in drunken behaviour

0:28:250:28:29

at 35,000 feet if controls on alcohol sales are introduced.

0:28:290:28:34

But a clamp-down could mean reduced revenues for airports,

0:28:340:28:38

and all of us paying more for our flights.

0:28:380:28:44

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