> Given the report it seems likely that a custodial sentence may
> be judged appropriate. Dangerous drunks who are abusive and
> flout safety regulations need slapping down hard.
Perhaps at least for a time they could be put on a no-fly list, or
declared personae non grata by the countries that had a stake in the
game. Message: if you want to act like that, do it at home and see
if your own police will sit still for it.
(It should be said that such extreme behavior is so rare I've never
seen it, and I'm on an US domestic flight every other week on
average. Closest I ever came was in the concourse one night, when
someone was getting very loudly and demonstratively agitated with the
gate agent. Our plane was an hour or so late due to weather
elsewhere. He seemed to think the gate agent had some power over
this, and would exercise it if only she knew how important he was,
which fact he could communicate if loud and furious enough.
Perhaps feeling many pairs of eyes upon him -- if memory serves,
including those of a largish baggage handler who'd come up the jetway
to see what the fuss was about -- he settled for giving a trash can a
good kick as he stormed out, announcing that he was headed for the
ticket counter to speak to her manager. We saw no more of him.
Whether he was mollified by customer service personnel, dragged off
by the police, or suddenly bathed in a shaft of light and assumed
bodily into busy important people heaven we know not.)
--Joe |