"Air rage" is massively on the rise on UK airlines, according to new statistics.
Data collected by the Civil Aviation Authority and obtained by the BBC shows that the number of dangerous incidents aboard British aircraft rose from 85 in 2013 to 386 in 2015, meaning air rage has more than quadrupled within a three-year-period.
Some of the air rage incidents quoted by the Civil Aviation Authority, the UK's independent aviation regulator, are far more serious than Kate Moss reportedly calling an easyJet pilot a "basic bitch" last summer. One flight crew needed the help of four policeman to remove a passenger who had become "uncontrollable and verbally abusive," the BBC reports.
The new data comes less than two months after Lord Ahmad, the UK's aviation minister, announced that he intends to "look at" the fact that pubs, bars and restaurants in airports can sell alcohol 24 hours a day because they are not subject to the usual licensing laws.
"I don't think we want to kill merriment altogether, but I think it's important that passengers who board planes are also responsible and have a responsibility to other passengers, and that certainly should be the factor which we bear in mind," he told the Press Association at the time, according to the Daily Telegraph.
"In terms of specific regulations of timings of outlets (which sell alcohol) and how they operate, clearly I want to have a look at that," he added.
According to Civil Aviation Authority regulations, "airlines have a right to refuse to carry passengers that they consider to be a potential risk to the safety of the aircraft, its crew or its passengers." One of the reasons given is if the passenger "is drunk or under the influence of drugs."
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