‘Barmaids in the sky’

Airline cabin crew are being subjected to record levels of abuse from intoxicated passengers, according to shocking new research conducted by Unite.

A survey of 4,000 cabin crew, Unite members, formed the basis of a BBC Panorama investigation into excessive alcohol consumption in airports and in the skies, which airs tonight on BBC One at 8.30pm.

The survey found that 87 per cent of cabin crew had witnessed drunken passenger behaviour on UK airports or flights from UK airports, with the vast majority — 78 per cent — of those who witnessed such incidents saying they happened since July 2016.

More than half of those who participated in the survey say they have suffered verbal abuse, while one in five experienced physical abuse and one in ten reported that they had been sexually abused.

Ally Murphy, a former Cabin Crew Manager for Virgin Airlines told Panorama of the abuse she had endured.

‘Shouldn’t have to deal with this’
“People just see us as barmaids in the sky,” she said. “I was pulled into an upper-class bed by a passenger who was feeling particularly lucky I guess. They would touch your breasts, or they’d touch your bum or your legs, or I mean I’ve had hands going up my skirt before. It’s rage inducing, and you shouldn’t have to deal with that.

“I guess I never reported it to the police because sadly, and this is completely wrong and only really occurring to me now, you kind of just accept it as part of the job,” Murphy added. “And it shouldn’t be.”

Current cabin crew members, who wished to remain anonymous, also recounted how they had been abused.

“I’ve been cornered in the back galley by somebody trying to kiss me and making sexual moves on me, having to push them away. It can go from anything from banter to sexual assault really,” the cabin crew member reported.

Another anonymous cabin crew member said that they had found “countless litre bottles of vodka. We find bottles of Jägermeister, bottles of Bacardi, bottles of gin.

“I know other colleagues who have been punched, kicked, one of them was head butted by a passenger.”

The number of passengers who have been arrested for drunkenness at UK airports and on flights has skyrocketed by 50 per cent in the last year alone.

Between February 2016 and February 2017 a total of 387 people had been arrested, up from 255 the previous year.

The Civil Aviation Authority said there was a 600 per cent increase in disruptive passenger incidents between 2012 and 2016, with most incidents said to have involved alcohol.

The rise in the number of arrests and incidents suggests that a voluntary code of practice on disruptive passengers introduced in July in 2016 is not working. The code recommends that airports and airlines work together to prevent disruption of drunken passengers by selling alcohol responsibly, among other measures.

While most big airlines and airports are signed up to the code of practice on disruptive passengers, the Panorama investigation found that the code was not necessarily adhered to by the signatories.

An undercover Panorama reporter at Manchester Airport, which is a signatory of the code, purchased alcohol at World Duty Free and asked whether the alcohol she bought could be consumed on the plane. She was told, “Officially probably not; unofficially I think you’ll get away with it.”

Unite survey
In the Unite survey, only one in four cabin crew had ever heard of the code of practice, and of those who did, less than a quarter thought it was working to ensure less disruption from drunken passengers.

Unite has long called for stronger measures that would deter the minority of passengers who become drunk, disruptive and abusive.

Unite national officer for civil air transport Oliver Richardson said, “The abuse and disruptive behaviour cabin crew have to contend with in doing their job and ensuring passenger safety would not be tolerated in any other industry or walk of life.

“It is completely unacceptable and clear that the code of conduct is doing little to stem the tide of drunken and disruptive behaviour a small minority of passengers are indulging in,” he added.

“Such behaviour endangers the safety of passengers and crew and should not be tolerated.

“The industry and the government need to recognise that the code of conduct must be given teeth, look at factors such as levels of alcohol consumption prior to flight departures, as well as tougher penalties for the perpetrators of such behaviour.”

Many of the cabin crew in the survey expressed frustration that nothing was being done by either the government or industry.

“The code of conduct isn’t working,” an anonymous cabin crew member said. “We’re seeing these incidents on a daily, a weekly, a monthly basis. It’s the alcohol mainly in the duty free that is the significant problem.”

But the Home Office has said — contrary to what those on the front lines are saying — that the code of practice is in fact working.

Others have joined Unite’s call for stricter penalties and a change in the law.

Alexandra Wilms, from the Balearic Ministry of Tourism said, “There must be high fines because at the end, these kinds of people don’t understand any other thing than really getting punished by paying a lot of money.”

Stricter regulation call
And a House of Lords committee report earlier this year called for stricter regulation of the sale of alcohol in airports, including revoking airports’ exemption from the Licensing Act, which allows airports to sell alcohol outside permitted hours.

Baroness McIntosh , chair of the committee, slammed the government’s inaction and said that the Home Office’s contention that the voluntary code of practice was working “doesn’t make any sense at all”.

“We didn’t hear one shred of evidence to show that the voluntary code was either working now or had any possible vestige of, success in working any time soon,” she said. “Meanwhile the incidents of air rage go up daily. I would urge, on behalf of the Committee, the Home Office to really, really take this problem seriously.”

The Home Office said it would consider the committee report’s recommendations and “will respond in due course” but it declined Panorama’s request for an interview.

Unite’s Oliver Richardson added that the union urges “the industry and ministers to join Unite in developing an action plan to rid the skies of disruptive and dangerous behaviour.”

Don’t forget to tune in tonight (August 14) for Panorama’s Plane Drunk on BBC One at 8.30pm or watch it on BBC iPlayer afterwards here.