Do we need to implement a Flying Under the Influence (FUI) program? It’s not the worst idea
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With the dramatic rise of in-flight incidents — many involving alcohol — one traveler thinks it might be time to try something novel and implement a Flying Under the Influence (FUI) program that’s modeled after the DUI — or Driving Under the Influence. You know, what? It’s not the worst idea.
Recently, a commenter on this blog shared an interesting idea. We won’t mention their name, publicly, but the screenshot below shows their comment. They stated:
“ Maybe its time to initiate the FUI Flying under the influence. People drinking have impaired judgement and since we have dui for cars lets have it for flying. Better yet remove alcohol sales from airports and have breathalyzer with heafty fines (sic).”
The comment was in response to a post we shared that shows an inebriated female passenger getting arrested after spouting racist statements and behaving poorly in the gate area. The passenger, like many (many!) other passengers involved in a travel fracas, had consumed too much booze.
Last year the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported that there were nearly 6,000 travel-related incidents, many of which were reported to involve alcohol. The issue of booze and travel has been so severe that many airlines stopped serving it during the worst times of the pandemic. For example, only recently Southwest Airlines shared its plan to start serving alcohol again and it was met with quite the outcry from frazzled flight attendants.
Clearly, alcohol is playing a role in the recent spate of in-flight or airport-related incidents — that’s undeniable. But, should airlines stop serving alcohol altogether? Should passengers be required to be sober to travel? These are interesting questions.
At face value, we kind of like parts of the idea. As someone who doesn’t booze much anyway, let alone drink much (if at all) while traveling, the impact to me is, admittedly, low. I’ve always been perplexed by the full bars at 9AM in airports, and the people who slam back a couple of beers on a short flight.
It’s one thing to have a glass of wine with your dinner while riding business class to Germany on 9-hour flight. It’s a different thing to…
