Should there be a no-fly list for abusive passengers?

One of Britain’s biggest unions has called for a blanket ban on problem airline passengers, after a survey of members revealed the majority of aviation workers had suffered some kind of abuse.

Unite found that 72% of ground staff, including those working as security, ground handlers or customer service agents, and 71% of cabin crew receive verbal abuse at least monthly. Just under a third of ground staff and 42% of cabin crew reported being physically assaulted.

According to the UK Civil Aviation Authority, the number of serious disruptive passenger incidents has more than doubled since the pandemic, with more than 1,000 reported last year.

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Booze and bad behaviour

While flight delays, cancellations and baggage issues contribute to disruptive behaviour, by far the biggest factor is alcohol. In the Unite survey, 95% of cabin crew and 55% of ground staff said intoxication was the biggest trigger for abuse.

Being drunk on a plane is a criminal offence, punishable by a fine of up to £5,000 and two years’ imprisonment. But earlier this year Ryanair boss, Michael O’Leary, told The Times the airline was having to divert almost one aircraft a day because of drunken and aggressive behaviour by passengers, and called for morning drinking at airports to be banned. “Until somebody creates an accident that causes a plane to crash and kills hundreds, no government will take this problem seriously and airlines are tearing their hair out,” he said.

Under current data protection rules, airlines are prohibited from sharing passenger details with each other, meaning someone banned from a flight or airline can easily book with another carrier.

However, the Department for Transport set out plans this summer to create a national database of disruptive passengers, which would be co-operatively managed by the government and the airline industry. This would alert airline staff to passengers with a history of abuse, and they could then decide whether to let them fly or not. Repeat offenders could be banned for life from all airlines operating out of the UK.

‘Alarm bells’

The proposal is broadly welcomed by airlines, airport staff and the public, with three-quarters of 5,000 UK adults surveyed by YouGov supporting the database’s creation. However, civil liberties campaigner Josie Appleton, of the Campaign for Freedom in Everyday Life, said the proposal “should ring alarm bells”.

She told LBC the plan “sets a dangerous precedent of government working with private companies to bar people’s access to transport and services” and warned of the potential for “blacklists in other areas”, asking “who decides who goes on the list, what is the benchmark, and how long would they be on the list for?”

The US has been seeking its own version of a “no-fly” database for years “without success”, said Christopher Elliott, founder of consumer watchdog Elliott Advocacy. The Protection from Abusive Passengers Act would bar passengers fined or convicted for assaulting or intimidating crew or other travellers. Yet despite putting safeguards in place, including linking a listing to a fine or a conviction, and building in an appeal and a process for removing people added in error, the bill has repeatedly failed to be passed by Congress.