Travel backs ‘One Too Many’ responsible alcohol campaign

Jet2.com renewed its call for greater regulation of pre-flight alcohol sales after it was forced to divert a Birmingham-Ibiza flight last month due to a rowdy stag party. It has supported similar initiatives to that proposed by Ryanair in the past.

Phil Ward, Jet2.com managing director, said: “The issue of disruptive passenger behaviour caused by drinking too much alcohol affects many airlines.

“Although our crew and colleagues are highly-trained and do a fantastic job in often difficult circumstances, it is unacceptable they must be left to manage the consequences of excessive alcohol consumption. At the same time, customers travelling on well-earned holidays should not be subjected to this behaviour.

“We launched our Onboard Together campaign to tackle the issue in 2015, but incidents of disruptive passenger behaviour caused by drinking to excess show no sign of reducing.

“We welcome this new initiative to tackle the problem, however the time for taking action to tackle the problem is long overdue.”

Ward said the airline though was seeking “industry-wide” action on the issue. Ideas include sealed backs preventing illicit consumption of duty free alcohol and more stringent alcohol licensing regimes at airports.

“As a family friendly airline flying millions of people on holiday every year, we take a zero tolerance approach to disruptive passenger behaviour and we will always support measures that ensure safe, disruption-free travel for our crew and customers,” Ward added.