Minister Benn is on the ball

Jul 14, 2008 Letters

Dear Editor,
Delta Airlines is ultimately responsible for its passengers, and should therefore be held accountable for passengers’ behaviour.

Had the flight attendants done a professional job, this incident could have possibly been avoided. From eyewitnesses’ accounts, the passenger was drunk and behaved in like manner even after he ‘self-landed’ at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport.

I oppose the views of Gerry Gouveia, that the airline should not be held responsible, since the passenger may have consumed his own drinks. Even worse was his assumption that the air hostess may have avoided confronting the passenger due to fear of clash of cultures; this is unheard of in the aviation industry.

Passengers’ and aircraft safety is paramount in this business, and the flight attendants are aware that this takes precedence over cultures and other such like considerations.

From my information, the passenger in question was seated in the first class section of the cabin in seat 1B, that is, in full view of the flight attendants. How, then, is it possible for this passenger to get drunk without the flight attendants noticing? I am sure Delta is very concerned about this fiasco and is reviewing its in-flight operations.

I fully support Minister Benn, that the airline must be held responsible for the safety of its passengers. The story may have been different had the passenger injured himself while exiting the aircraft. We now await the report of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority as to what went wrong and what ought to be done to avoid a repeat in the future.

R. Persaud