Badly behaved sailors traveling from Windhoek on a Eurowings Discover flight found that their trip cost a lot more than they bargained for. Having refused to mask up, a group of 32 Russian and Ukrainian passengers proceeded to drink their own alcohol on board, despite being told this was not allowed. The passengers were met on arrival at Frankfurt by the Bundespolizei, with some fined as much as $1,600 for their misdemeanors.
Badly behaved passengers
Passengers behaving badly seems to be a mark of the current climate, with over 1,000 unruly passengers investigated by the FAA over the course of 2021. Some lost their Pre check privileges, while others were referred to the FBI to take action. Many have seen hefty fines leveraged against them as a result.
The vast majority of these incidents seem to occur on US flights – whether that’s a reaction to the strict mask mandate or a symptom of the stress of traveling during COVID can’t be sure. But that’s not to say that the rest of the world is immune from passenger disruption. Just yesterday, Frankfurt Airport in Germany saw a ‘major operation’ triggered as a result of disruptive behavior.
In a statement issued by the Federal Police Headquarters Airport Frankfurt am Main, the Bundespolizei recalled how a group of 30 Russian and two Ukrainian sailors caused chaos at the airport early on Sunday morning. The passengers were traveling from Windhoek to Frankfurt on a Eurowings Discover flight.
What shall we do with a drunken sailor?
The group had boarded the flight in Windhoek for the 10-hour plus journey to Frankfurt. The aircraft, an Airbus A330-200 registered D-AXGF, took off five minutes ahead of schedule, at just before 20:00 on Saturday night. According to the report from the Bundespolizei, the 32 men were on their way to their home countries via Frankfurt.
Clearly in a celebratory mood, the sailors had brought with them copious amounts of their own alcohol. Despite being forbidden to consume the drinks on board, the passengers continued to down the bottles of spirits, and refused to put on their masks despite repeated requests from the cabin crew.
According to the Bundespolizei,
“The captain alerted the federal police from the air. A large contingent of police officers then received the sailors at the aircraft and escorted the obviously drunk sailors to the station. The officials initiated administrative offense proceedings against all the men.”
For the sailors, the celebrations were to be short lived. In 13 cases, the officers leveraged security payments of as much as €530 ($600) per person. For three individuals who reportedly harassed the cabin crew during the journey, the fine was higher – €1,030 ($1,167) each.
Despite the disruption to their journey, the German police were not keen to hang on to these rowdy individuals. The Bundespolizei notes that, after processing at the police station, all were allowed to continue on their journeys to their home countries.
