Ryanair calls for two-drink limit at airports - BBC News
The call comes as BBC Panorama finds arrests of drunken passengers has increased by 50% in a year.
Ryanair has called on UK airports to enforce a two-drink limit, after a BBC Panorama investigation suggested arrests of drunken passengers have risen by 50% in a year.

The airline has already banned customers from drinking duty-free alcohol on board.

A total of 387 people were arrested between February 2016 and February 2017 - up from 255 the previous year.

The Home Office is "considering" calls for tougher rules on alcohol.

The arrest figures obtained by Panorama came from 18 out of the 20 police forces with a major airport in their area.

Ryanair already stops people flying from Glasgow Prestwick and Manchester to Alicante and Ibiza from bringing alcohol on board the aircraft at all.

The company is urging airports to ban the sale of alcohol before 10am and to limit the number of drinks per boarding pass to a maximum of two.

Ryanair's Kenny Jacobs said: "This is an issue which the airports must now address.

"We are calling for significant changes to prohibit the sale of alcohol at airports, particularly with early morning flights and when flights are delayed."

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Trade body Airlines UK said it should be made illegal for people to drink their own alcohol on board a plane.

Meanwhile, more than half of cabin crew who responded to a survey said they had witnessed disruptive drunken passenger behaviour at UK airports.

A total of 19,000 of the Unite union's cabin crew members were surveyed and 4,000 responded, with one in five saying they had suffered physical abuse.

A former cabin crew manager with Virgin, Ally Murphy, quit her job last October after 14 years and told Panorama: "People just see us as barmaids in the sky.

"They would touch your breasts, or they'd touch your bum or your legs. I've had hands going up my skirt before."

Speaking to Radio 5live, DJ Judge Jules, said he witnessed the same sort of behaviour.

"People sort of stealing stuff from the drinks trolley, people groping the cabin crew, people groping one another. I mean the list is endless," he said.

A House of Lords committee report called for tougher rules on the sale of alcohol at airports

In July 2016 the aviation industry introduced a voluntary code of conduct on disruptive passengers, which most of the big airlines and airports signed up to.

The code's advice included asking retailers to warn passengers not to consume duty-free purchases on the plane, while staff were also asked not to sell alcohol to passengers who appeared drunk.

Panorama found more than a quarter of cabin crew surveyed were unaware of the code of practice and, of those who had heard of it, only 23% thought it was working.

Airlines can limit the amount of alcohol sold to passengers on board flights.

Low-cost airline Jet2 has already banned alcohol sales on flights before 08:00 and managing director Phil Ward agreed further action was needed.

"I think they [airports] could do more. I think the retailers could do more as well.

"Two litre steins of beer in bars, mixes and miniatures in duty free shops, which can only be there for one reason - you know, they're items that are not sold on the high street.

"We can't allow it not to change."

A House of Lords committee report earlier this year called for tougher rules on the sale of alcohol at airports.

The Home Office said it was considering the report's recommendations, which include revoking the airports' exemption from the Licensing Act, "and will respond in due course".

Karen Dee, chief executive of the Airport Operators Association, said: "I don't accept that the airports don't sell alcohol responsibly. It's the misuse of it and drinking to excess and then behaving badly."

She said they were working with retailers and staff to make sure they understand the rules.

Watch Panorama: Plane Drunk on Monday 14 August on BBC One at 20:30 BST and afterwards on BBC iPlayer
• None The facts about booze on flights