Don't Drink and... Fly

Having traveled on more business trips than I can count and this point, and thus, having flown on countless flights, I could share stories of people from all walks of life making well, complete asses of themselves on airplanes after consuming too much alcohol. I traveled so much before 9/11, and it was worse then, when a passenger drinking too much on a plane was really seen as a flight attendant's problem.
Today, in our post 9/11 world, all that has changed, and when you get out of hand on a flight, it is no small matter. And I say, it's about time. I don't know why they continue to serve alcohol on flights at all. Given the issues we have to worry about, why add alcohol to the mix? If you can't live without a drink for 4 hours or even for 12 hours for international flights, then something is wrong.
I drink the occasional cocktail or glass of wine, but after witnessing some seriously distressing moments on flights when a drunken idiot turned our flight into a stressful event for everyone, I say it's high time we make an official "last call".
Reading this article (below) made me angry and sad. Angry that someone got so out of control, angry that the crew and other passengers had to put up with all that nonsense, and really sad that this man did all this in front of his wife and son.

FBI: Man throws ice, grabs buttocks on plane
by: Cleve R. Wootson Jr.

A Charlotte-bound flight made a quick landing Tuesday after authorities said a man wouldn't cooperate with the flight crew, throwing ice at passengers, refusing to fasten his seat belt and grabbing a flight attendant.
Jacob Kline was charged with being intoxicated and disruptive in public and resisting a public officer after the incident on American Airlines Flight 1360 from Dallas. An affidavit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court says Kline also violated federal law by interfering with the flight crew and attendants. He was arrested at the airport and was still in Mecklenburg jail Wednesday afternoon.
The affidavit says Kline, who lives in New Mexico, sat in the wrong seat when he boarded the plane, but crew members shifted seating assignments so that he could sit near his young son.
Soon after the flight left the Texas airport, Kline ordered a rum and Coke, the affidavit says. The 44-year-old switched seats constantly – his wife and daughter were on the plane, too, and he'd sometimes sit near them, but other times he'd sit in an entirely different section of the plane, according to the affidavit. Later he ordered two more rum and Cokes, but, according to the affidavit, when he began whistling loudly and cursing, the flight attendants refused to serve him a fourth drink.
So Kline got a cup of ice and began throwing it at other passengers, according to court documents. Flight attendants said that, when they tried to stop Kline, he grabbed a female attendant's buttocks.
That's when the crew notified the captain that there was a growing problem in the passenger area. The captain requested and received permission for an expedited landing at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport. Officers were waiting for Kline when the plane docked at the gate.

Article courtesy Charlotte Observer