Saturday, Feb. 24, 2007 | 6:54 a.m.
Just about any Las Vegan who has boarded a flight home to McCarran International Airport knows there is a better-than-average chance that for someone else on the plane, it is party time.
But drunken passengers can create real safety risks - and not all of them materialize in flight. Earlier this month US Airways, Frontier and Northwest airlines were ordered to stop serving alcohol on flights into and out of New Mexico because they lacked the proper state-issued licenses.
New Mexico officials had been reviewing airline alcohol sales since a Nov. 11 traffic collision in which an intoxicated driver killed five people and himself after getting off of a US Airways flight in Albuquerque. Passengers say he appeared drunk on the plane, where he continued drinking. A task force created by New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has discussed, among other things, banning in-flight liquor sales.
The Federal Aviation Administration does not regulate airline alcohol sales. But the issue has been raised almost since Northwest first served alcohol on domestic flights in 1949 (Pan American had been serving it internationally since 1933). A 1955 story by Time magazine describes proposed federal legislation that called for banning in-flight alcohol sales. In 1956 Time reported that many airlines voluntarily imposed a two-drink limit on hard liquor (but none on beer and wine) in an effort to fend off federal law. Today, most airlines have policies prohibiting alcohol sales to obviously drunken passengers - a judgment call flight attendants must make.
Still, federally limiting in-flight imbibing came up again after increased reports of "air rage" preceding the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., asked the seven major airlines to voluntarily impose a two-drink limit on all alcohol sold on domestic flights, threatening legislation to mandate it if they did not oblige. The legislation did not materialize. Feinstein later said it was because other security matters after the 9/11 terrorist attacks took precedence.
The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, a union representing 20 airlines and 55,000 in-flight service workers, posts on its Web site a fact sheet that says unruly passengers typically fall into five categories. Alcohol-related behavior is listed first. Reasons for passenger agitation, the association says, include crowded planes, delays and "free-flowing alcohol."
While airlines should not be held responsible for the actions of those who buy liquor after they leave the aircraft - any more than bars or liquor stores are held accountable - they could be more proactive in limiting in-flight disruptions caused by drunken passengers. Long airport waits, flight delays and full-capacity flights create enough agitation. Perhaps it is time to revisit the idea of in-flight alcohol limits to ensure that air travel remains safe for everyone. It seems it would be less subjective and far safer for flight attendants to impose a preset limit than forcing them to argue with a drunk at 35,000 feet.
archive
