It’s long overdue that the FAA deals with airlines who board and/or serve visibly intoxicated passengers. It’s time to clear the skies of these drunken passengers now!
This year, like past years, there have been multiple incidents involving drunk passengers on airlines causing major problems for flight crews and passengers.
Already this year there are reports of drunken passengers with highly disruptive behavior on Ryanair, American Airlines and Aer Lingus.
In February, it’s been widely reported that a drunk passenger had a total meltdown as his Ryanair flight was taxing on the tarmac prior to leaving for Spain. The plane had to turn around and return to the gate. The intoxicated man was shouting on his cellphone. He wouldn’t put his phone away, turn it to airplane mode or stop shouting.
In March, on an American Airlines flight to Atlanta, I experienced a noisy, obnoxious drunk passenger seated behind me. While he didn’t get out of his seat or assault anyone, he was periodically loud and crude. He boarded the plane in that condition. He never should have been allowed on the plane, in my opinion.
In June, an intoxicated man on an Aer Lingus flight from Ireland to Seattle became obnoxious and allegedly assaulted another passenger. He was handcuffed by flight attendants for hours until the FBI took him into custody. According to a passenger seated behind the drunk passenger, he said he had multiple alcoholic beverages on the plane and took some kind of pill.
Apparently, the income from serving alcohol is so important to the airlines that they’ll take their chances with boarding and serving drunk passengers.
Over the years, I’ve seen too many drunk passengers board planes already already misbehaving and were allowed to be obnoxious to those around them. I’ve also seen too many drunk passengers continue to be served more alcohol on their flight despite their behavior. Apparently, the income from serving alcohol is so important to the airlines that they take drunk passengers and their behavior from crude, obnoxious, loud talk to assault, lightly.
While it’s always the drunk’s fault for their behavior, it’s also their bar tender’s or server’s (flight attendants) responsibility for their condition, in these cases. To me, there is no excuse for the flight attendant’s poor judgment that leads to passengers’ drunken states and abusive behavior.
Airlines are required to refuse boarding to visibly drunk passenger and not serve visibly drunk passengers while aloft.
In each of the above cases and thousands of others annually, gate agents and flight crews have the power to deny boarding to any passenger who was already visibly intoxicated and certainly flight crews have the power to not serve alcoholic beverages to anyone already drunk and cut off passengers from having more alcohol once they became visibly drunk or better yet, before that occurred, to prevent them from becoming abusive or worse.
In fact, the airlines are required to do that, according to U.S. Federal Regulation of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Department of Transportation 14 CFR § 121.575 – Alcoholic beverages,
“(c) No certificate holder (read that as no airline) may allow any person to board any of its aircraft if that person appears to be intoxicated. “
and
“(b) No certificate holder (read that as no airline) may serve any alcoholic beverage to any person aboard any of its aircraft who — (1) Appears to be intoxicated;”
Flight attendants tell me that it’s extremely rare that they can’t spot a drunk passenger.
I’ve spoken with countless flight attendants over the years. They tell me that it’s extremely rare that they can’t spot a drunk passenger. Either their behavior or other observations give them away. Most flight attendants, in my opinion, are proactive during boarding and remove drunk passengers before the plane’s doors close. In-flight, most won’t serve a visibly intoxicated passenger. Many suggest to drunk passengers that they drink coffee or some other beverage to try to sober them up. Unfortunately, while that’s true, far too many flight attendants look the other way because it’s easier. They permit drunk passengers to board and serve them while aloft, despite FAA regulations.
If one of the flights on which a drunk passenger was aboard had a serious mishap or accident, can you imagine what would have become of those drunken passengers because they weren’t in control of their faculties? For example, on a United flight to Hawaii that I was on a number of years ago, two attractive young women were continuously served alcohol by a male flight attendant. By the time we landed in Kona, one of the women could barely stand and needed assistance from her slightly tipsy friend. How could either of them have evacuated safely in a mishap? Also, it’s possible that in attempting to evacuate that they would have held back others who might then have been seriously injured or worse.
In May, the FAA threatened to fine Alaska Airlines $165,000 for intoxicated passenger incidents, pocket change for an airline with $14.2 billion in revenue last year.
In late May, the FAA threatened to impose a $165,000 civil penalty against Alaska Airlines for allegedly allowing intoxicated passengers to board flights nearly a dozen times within a year. No one is talking about consequences for the members of the flight crew who served the passengers in the 11 incidents cited in the complaint against Alaska Airlines.
More than that, the Alaska Air Group reported a record full-year operating revenue of $14.2 billion for 2025. A fine of $165,000 is pocket change to them. Fines like that don’t make a significant enough impact to change the airlines’ corporate behavior.
I have a modest proposal. It’s straight forward and should be able to be enforced.
(1) The FAA will be required to investigate all drunk passenger incidents reported by flight crews and/or passengers to determine the level of the fine assessed, if guilty.
(2) For any airline that doesn’t deny boarding to a visibly intoxicated passenger or serves them an alcoholic beverage on the plane, the FAA will levy a fine of not less than $5,000,000 nor more than $10,000,000 per intoxicated passenger per incident. The current maximum fine is $43,658 per violation. The threat of fines in my proposal would have a considerably higher likelihood of having airline CEOs and boards of directors take notice of this problem than the current maximum fine.
(3) If after three years the above fines don’t obtain a minimum of a 90 percent reduction in drunk passenger incidents as reported to the FAA by the airlines and/or passengers, then the minimum and maximum fines will be tripled.
The U.S. Congress must hold the FAA accountable to write the necessary regulations and enforce them so that we can finally fly in and over the U.S., free of fear of drunks abusing and assaulting us, our families — including our children — and our friends.
I call on Congress, the President, the FAA and the airlines to finally act responsibly to clear the skies across the U.S. from the scourge of publicly drunk passengers who abuse, assault and endanger those on their flights.
(Image: American Airlines A319 landing at Philadelphia International Airport. Copyright © 2018 NSL Photography. All Rights Reserved. All TDM and AI Training are Prohibited.)
After many years working in corporate America as a chemical engineer, executive and eventually CFO of a multinational manufacturer, Ned founded a tech consulting company and later restarted NSL Photography, his photography business. Before entering the corporate world, Ned worked as a Public Health Engineer for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. As a well known corporate, travel and wildlife photographer, Ned travels the world writing about travel and photography, as well as running photography workshops, seminars and photowalks. Visit Ned’s Photography Blog and Galleries.
