A human rights lawyer was found guilty of racially insulting and abusing cabin crew as well as being drunk on a flight and sentenced for six months in jail on April 5, 2019. The passenger went on a racist tirade after being refused a fourth bottle of wine on an Air India flight from Mumbai to London in November 2018.
The sentence comes as the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is launching the #notonmyflight campaign, to draw attention to an increasing problem of unruly or disruptive behavior by passengers onboard.
The campaign, aimed at both passengers and airlines, portrays examples of unruly behaviors, ranging from smoking or excessive drinking to physical aggression, and shows the consequences that passengers face.
“Every 3 hours the safety of a flight within the EU is threatened by passengers demonstrating unruly or disruptive behavior,” the agency notes in a statement. “At least 70% of these incidents involve some form of aggression. At least once a month the situation escalates to such a degree forcing the plane to perform an emergency landing”.
Every 3 hours unruly passengers threaten your safety. Share if you don’t want to fly with them! #notonmyflight more facts on https://t.co/ZSxpL6NTFP pic.twitter.com/6Y3LGvsJCf
— EASA (@EASA) April 3, 2019