Scared of a similar flight experience like the two Air India flights in November-December 2022 where drunk men ended up ‘peeing’ on co-passengers? The answer is clear. It’s completely your luck.
Unfortunately, there’s no common crackdown rule or measure by the airlines’ regulatory body. It all depends on the airlines you’ve booked your flight with.
This clarification was made by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) before the Supreme Court in an affidavit while responding to a petition by a 72-year-old woman who was urinated upon by a co-passenger on a New York-Delhi flight demanding urgent formulation of an SOP to deal with intoxicated passengers.
According to a report in Times of India, the DGCA has said that Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) are in place to deal with “handling of unruly passengers”.
On the limit on alcoholic drinks to be served onboard, DGCA said it’s the discretion of every airline, as per Clause 4.3 of CAR, to formulate a policy so as to not leave passengers inebriated, which increase the risk of them committing nuisance, the report stated.
The Air India flight victim had, in her petition, requested the apex court to direct the aviation regulatory body to frame a ‘zero tolerance’ SOP and rules to strictly deal with onboard unruly/disruptive behaviour and its implementation in letter and spirit by all airlines.
She alleged that the Air India crew faltered in handling the sensitive issue in a casual manner, causing immense damage to her dignity.
According to TOI, the woman said first they served excess hard drinks to the accused co-passenger and then forced her to enter into a settlement with him while failing in their duty to report the incident to the police.
She added that the DGCA must consider “drunkenness” as unruly or disruptive behaviour on an aircraft.
As far as the alcohol policy of Air India is concerned, a report by India Today had last year mentioned the airline’s rules for drinking that states how much alcohol can be served to a passenger before they are cut off.
A Look at Air India’s On-board Drinking Policy:
• Flyers should be served liquor at their seats only. Consumption of liquor brought by a passenger should be discouraged.
• Only one drink should be served at a time, with one drink being defined as a 12-ounce beer, a full glass of wine or champagne, or one miniature bottle of liquor.
• No alcohol should be served to those under 18 years of age.
• On flights with a duration of less than four hours, no more than two drinks should be served to the passenger.
• There must be a break of at least three hours before serving additional drinks once three drinks are served to the passenger. Notably, the airline policy mentions that these restrictions may not apply to passengers travelling in business class.
• Cabin crew are advised to stop the service of liquor to intoxicated passengers.
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