A British Airways passenger has taken to social media to share their unpleasant experience onboard one of the UK flag carrier and oneworld founding member’s long-haul flights from Johannesburg to London. The guest in question alleges that members of the cabin crew on the flight served his seat neighbor too much alcohol in the early stages of the flight, resulting in the seatmate vomiting everywhere due to his overindulgence in the air.

Given the unpleasant nature of this situation, the passenger submitted a complaint to British Airways, but has now shared the matter publicly online due to being offered inadequate compensation for his understandable discomfort. The situation is indicative of a general rise in bad passenger behavior since travelers began returning to the skies en masse after the coronavirus pandemic, which has prompted some to call for drink limits.

Inadequate Compensation Amid Excessive Indulgence

As noted by publications such as View From The Wing, yesterday saw a British Airways passenger take to social media to share his account of a sub-par flight from South Africa to the UK. The guest alleges that « staff served the passenger next to me 10 Bacardi mini bottles in the first few hours of the flight, » resulting in him getting « so intoxicated that he vomited on himself, the seats, the floor, myself, and the passenger on the other side of him. »

Given that the service of alcohol is at the discretion of staff, who are within their rights to refuse drinks to drunk guests, this is an alarming situation. Unfortunately, the guest was unable to move due to the flight being full, resulting in considerable discomfort. Upon submitting a formal complaint to BA on the matter, he was then shocked to only be offered 10,000 Avios points or a £50 ($67.12) voucher by way of compensation.

Simple Flying contacted British Airways for comment, but did not receive a response by the time of publication. We will update our coverage upon receiving a statement.

Such Incidents Are Prompting Calls For Drink Limits In Aviation

Given the highly unpleasant experience that resulted from the cabin crew at British Airways serving his seatmate too much alcohol, the passenger concluded the telling of his story by saying that he was « openly disgusted by the response and the service. » Needless to say, his view that the compensation offer was inadequate was shared by many on social media, and it will be interesting to see if anything else comes of the situation.

On a more general level, bad passenger behavior relating to drunkenness and intoxication has been on the rise since the coronavirus pandemic, with the return of passengers to the skies en masse after the global health crisis subseded bringing with it a sharp uptick in such incidents. This has resulted in some airlines taking strong measures to counteract this worrying trend, such as Ryanair, which has pledged to fine disruptive guests.

The Irish low-cost giant has also been vocal in its stance against drunk passengers, with the airline demanding a two-drink limit at airports to ensure that no guests are overly inebriated before they step on to one of its aircraft. Elsewhere, View From The Wing reported in 2022 that a union for cabin crew at American Airlines had demanded a two-drink limit when the serving of alcohol to economy class passengers resumed after the pandemic.

BA’s Johannesburg-Bound Operations In A Nutshell

As previously mentioned, the flight that saw a British Airways passenger vomit on his seat and neighbors due to excessive alcohol consumption was going from Johannesburg OR Tambo International Airport (JNB) to London Heathrow (LHR). This is one of the select few routes on which BA flies the Airbus A380.

According to Cirium, an aviation analytics company, BA serves this route twice a day for the most part, with the frequency only dropping to one daily flight between January 19 and 21 this month. In both directions, these services operate overnight, with the block time typically amounting to just over 11 hours.