Skye Taylor, 50, from Southampton, travelled the world with Virgin Atlantic for 16 years and has revealed the worst routes for drunk and disorderly passengers
A former cabin crew worker has shared her experiences of “absolute chaos” on certain routes where passengers consumed the most alcohol.
Ex-flight attendant Skye Taylor, who spent 16 years travelling the globe with Virgin Atlantic, made her comments after a discussion on RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne show. Travel correspondent Simon Calder sparked the debate by questioning whether it was time to trial alcohol-free flights.
Simon highlighted an increase in individuals combining alcohol with prescription drugs, leading Claire to ask: “If the airlines decide that they’re going to trial this and ban the sale of alcohol on flights, does it not just encourage us to get tanked up at the airport?”
After the conversation, Skye, 50, from Southampton, argued that a complete ban wasn’t the solution. However, she did advocate for restrictions on alcohol, attributing most of the issues she faced on the job to alcohol-related incidents.
Offering a troubling insight, she revealed: “Long haul flights… It is absolute chaos sometimes. I had an absolutely awful experience in upper class. I am going to say it because it was awful.
“There were a lot of quite well off guys off to a boxing match in Vegas and because they were in upper class there was no control on how much they were drinking.
“They literally drunk the bar dry which led to some behaviour that I couldn’t imagine seeing, like trying to touch the cabin crew, just in general, awful.”
She revealed that passengers mixing alcohol with prescription medication often caused the biggest headaches.
Skye also urged travellers to exercise caution, revealing how one drink at 30,000ft in the air was equivalent to downing three on the ground.
The mum, who left the industry after developing insomnia, said some upper class passengers felt overly entitled after splashing out so much cash for their seat.
However, she insisted this shouldn’t give them the right to make cabin crew workers feel threatened.
And discussing the contrast in different destinations, she added: “It is crazy to see the difference in routes. Say you are going to Dubai, the majority of your passengers are not going to be drinking because they don’t drink alcohol (in Dubai), so there are very very few incidents on flights like that.
“But the rest of the time the incidents are caused by alcohol and it is scary, it is scary sometimes when you are up there.”
So what does Skye reckon are the worst flights for drunken behaviour?
Las Vegas
Skye discovered the American party capital Las Vegas was the worst flight when departing from the UK.
She explained: “On the way out it can just be carnage. Which does make you feel unsafe as crew and other passengers if they are flying with families and stuff like that as well.”
But the return journey is frequently vastly different.
She revealed: “It is very different, if you come back from Vegas nobody wants to drink on the way home, so it is a very different atmosphere. Everyone is relaxed, chilled, everyone is going to sleep. It makes your job very easy.”
Magaluf and Ibiza
Predictably, two of Spain’s most legendary party hotspots featured on Skye’s list of the most challenging flights.
While detailing some of her tactics for handling disruptive passengers (see below), Skye highlighted the destinations as among the most problematic on budget carrier routes.
Jamaica
Remembering a flight to the Jamaican capital of Kingston, she revealed “it was absolutely chaos”.
Skye added: “And it was a big aircraft but we had the staff to deal with it then and I think most airlines now don’t have the staff. They are down to minimum crew and that’s not leaving anyone to watch for people drinking because they are too busy.”
The most challenging route, she discovers, is from the UK to Las Vegas.
Following her description of Las Vegas as the most difficult route, Skye noted that paradoxically, on the homeward flight to England, nobody aboard wishes to drink.
‘Booze ban is not the answer’
According to the International Air Transport Association, air rage incidents have risen by 8% in the past year. And while not believing that an alcohol prohibition on flights was the solution, Skye did offer one recommendation.
According to Skye, most difficulties emerged when travellers brought aboard alcohol purchased in the airport, before uncorking the bottle during the flight. She firmly believes any booze bought in duty free should be collected during boarding, then returned after touchdown.
Skye reckons this would prevent passengers “acting like they are in Wetherspoons” which occurs on numerous routes.
She concluded: “It definitely needs tighter restrictions and even if alcohol is free on board, just reduce that, especially routes that cause the problems, so low cost routes it is going to be Ibiza, Magluf, that type of flight.
“Stop them bringing alcohol on that board, because that is when they act up. I don’t know how they get away with it anyway, it is purchased outside the aircraft and it shouldn’t be in their hands, that’s my opinion.”
