Las Vegas "Stag & Hen flights"

I can be bit of a killjoy and being over 40 my tolerance levels, of shall we say the 18-30 crowd, have dwindled. So I apologise if I sound a bit Victor Meldrew-ish.

Last year in Feb we walked into the pub at LGW. We saw loads and loads of rowdy groups mostly all male but some all female, all downing as much booze as they could. We thought they must all be off to Ibiza or somewhere else. After I walked past table after table and seeing Virgin tickets my heart sank.

Yes indeed they were all bound for Vegas, on our flight. Now I like a beer or two and like to have fun. But the vast majority of these groups just went for it on the flight. Trip after trip to the galley and copious ammonuts of whisky etc taken back to the seats. When they had more to drink all of a sudden thier seats become untrendy to sit in and they gathered in the aisles, near the loo's, in the exit rows. To be honest the plane resembled a pub on a Friday night.

Fine if your one enjoying it, but I feel it was intimidating and just darn annoying. Infact you could tell the crew had had enough as they kept putting the seat belt/return to seat sign up even though there was zero turbulance. 4 Hours into the flight came the announcement that Alcholol had ran out and service had stopped.

I spoke to the attendant later and she explained it often got rowdy on LAS flights and they frequently feign they have run out of booze and also feign the turbulance warnings just to get the stag parties back to thier seats.

Now this was a Thursday, this year I'm flying on a Wed and hope it may be better.

Anyone have any similar experience or know which days are the worst for these groups??

I must say that on the return (Sun) the same groups were absolutely silent, I take it all the non-stop clubbing and drinking had knocked them out after 3 days for the return haul.

[Darren Wheeler]

I was worried about this too, so booked a flight on the LHR-LAX route, then an internal hop (45mins) to LAS. Apart from the delay on the stopover it was much cheaper than LGW, plus you get the full Clubhouse experience if on UC.

Worth a look...

I have already booked, but it was an absolute bargain just £289 on a Miles Plus Money and only 2000 miles used plus I could get flights for my Sister and Friend too at this price. Wife has to stay home and baby sit

I really think Virgin needs to address this issue. If you had to pay for drink in Economy I'm sure it would not be such a problem.

Very common on LAS flights, which is why i prefer to go via LAX/SFO

[RichardMannion]

Absolutely agree with the others - I'd much rather go via LAX or SFO. Probably find that it is cheaper too.

I'm nowhere near my Meldrew years, but I can see where you are coming from. Problem is why would Virgin want to resolve it? It's obviously good business as you say. Yes amybe they should look to limiting the drink service down on that route, or maybe take the hardline and make a few examples of people by preventing them from boarding.

Vegas is beyond it's Sin City image, and is getting popular with a very diverse audience. I do feel sorry for the crews that have to deal with the behaviour that these individual echibit, that also spil the experience for the other hundreds of passengers on board. Maybe time to get smart on seating, trying to separate the stag/hen parties and the families/couples.

Thanks,
Richard

[mitchja]

VS do need to address this sooner rather than later. The VS LAS flights are getting a bad reputation.

They are fine for flying in J and W but Y is an absolute nightmare.

Most crew I've spoken too no longer like working the LAS flights.

Regards

[HighFlyer]

My penultimate ever long haul Y flight with VS was LGW-LAS. A chap going out on a stag do was sat on my row in the aisle seat, he and his friends were doing much the same - ordering as many drinks as they could and getting rather wasted. In the end, the chap fell asleep in his seat, head against the tray table. While i was thankful to not have to hear him shouting across the cabin and having multiple visits from his equally loud and obtrusive friends, i couldnt get out of my seat as he was blocking my exit. i tried to wake him to no avial so i had to shout for assistance to the crew. From a safety point of view this is an absolute joke.

Matty - coming from someone who is in the 18-30 age bracket themselves, i fully understand and agree with what you say.

Thanks,
Sarah

These replies have prompted me into emailing the Custom Relations team to see what thier response is to these claims.

It's not just annoyingand intimidating to sober pax but to keep serving the alcohol to intoxicated passenegers is surely illegal. As it is certainly illegal to be drunk on board an AC and that is just aiding and abetting.

I remember reading a trip report on this site for a LGW-LAS flight & there was a comment in there about the bar service being closed about 4 hours prior to landing. I think the claimed reason was because they had to save enough [presumably alcoholic] drinks for the return leg of the flight.

Fully agree with what Matty says though - it is an offence to be drunk on an aircraft & maybe VS need to be more proactive on the LAS route about limiting the supply of alcohol. Trouble is, how do you limit the supply to the stag / hen party groups [who want to get intoxicated, fast] whilst still keeping alcoholic drinks available to the other pax - who may only consume a small number of alcoholic drinks throughout the entire flight?

I can fully understand why VS crew do not like working on a LAS flight in Y.

Being in the 18-30 bracket- I would just like to say we are all not like that- but sadly, what I see as the minority, let us down- the majority of my friends are civilised and the media certainly dont help our cause by hyping the problem up. [|:)]

[:?] Personally I feel that if the problem is as bad as the crews are saying it is- then VS need to bite the bullet and start carrying out the warning they give at the start of all their flights. Those who have been in the bar and drunk will be offloaded, anyone in the air who is rowdy will be handed over to the authorities. I was always under the impression that the crew would refuse to serve alcohol to individuals prior to it running out.

At LGW three weeks ago- I was boarding next to the LAS flight and am pleased to say saw no one 18-30 who looked under the influence- so fingers crossed you with a good flight.

What day was that willd ???

One thing in my favour is, I'm flying 10 days before Chrimbo so I would assume that this isn't really peak Stag weekend time.

Last time was Feb/Mar when I would say that it is peak wedding time thus more Stag parties.

I'm not that old either (41) and just let me also say that I couldn't careless who gets ratt-assed in Vegas as I'll be one who indulges in too many free Buds or how much booze they can consume at 3 am in RA club, just not a 36,000 ft in an enclosed tube!

Flew on a thursday- the vast majority of people i saw in the pub at lgw had an orange boarding pass with them....no prizes for guessing who they were flying!!

[Neil]

hmmm this is an interesting topic, again as a member of the 18-30 bunch, I must say I don't get it, why people would want to be drunk on a flight is beyond me. Surely VS have to have clear rules for situations like this, I thought that it was against the law to be drunk on an a/c (watched many an Airline[:I]) and if this is the case then surely the CC should use common sense and not serve them alcohol? Maybe I am being naive in my expectations and understand the CC will want to make there job as hassle free as possible but they have a duty to all pax on the a/c and it unfair to allow a small group make a long journey uncomfortable for others.

Neil:)

Did LGW-LAS on 23rd August in Y.
Granted I had CH access so wouldn't know what the terminal was like, but I can tell you that I noticed nothing of what's mentioned in this thread on board the flight itself.

Cheers

Michael

Originally posted by 747340
If people want to have fun let them and as long as the crew know when enough is enough not a problem[^]

I could not disagree more![V]

Fun for them is okay?????,[:0] WTF is fun about sitting couped up on an aircraft with groups binge drinking lads that are becoming loud and intimidating and generally just spoiling the vast majority's flight for 10 solid hours.
Have fun in Vegas, not on the AC at FL350.
I'd see your point for a 1 hour short haul but not 5000 miles trans Atlantic!

The crew can't really control groups of 10-20 lads all on the P***, they just seemd to give them more drink for an easy life.

Secondly "the 18-30 crowd" refers to a certain group of individuals, that are hell bent on getting drunk, not caring for anyone elses flight or holiday experience and basically being obnoxiously rowdy. It's an expression used after the Holiday Company and NOT a generalism about people in an age group of between 18 and 30 years old.

No agression intended [:X]

[honey lamb]

Oh dear! It's Saturday night and I am in a town that is much favoured by stag and hen parties. I live just off the town centre and already there has been a fair bit of noise. In ten minutes time the pubs will close and they will all decamp to the discos for the next couple of hours when the noise will begin again as they head for the fast food joints and then for their hotels and taxis. In spite of the attempts to have the taxi pick-up points away from the residential areas many will pick up outside my house and while waiting for the said taxis they will sit on my window sills; they will forget that they are the only people awake and talk at the top of their voices; they may use the boot of my car as a table for their late night feast; they may toss litter (and worse) over my back gate; they will use my back gate as a public convenience.

On Saturday nights I thank and bless the Lord for VS earplugs - even if they come in a Scrooge pack - stick them in my ears and am oblivious to the raucousness that has gone on during my period of hearing deprivation. Equally I know I comes in waves at certain times during the night and I know how to deal with it to my satisfaction and without spoiling the high-spiritedness of those who are celebrating a friend's impending nuptials.

I have only once been on a flight with stag and hen parties. It was on a Ryanair flight from STN to ORK where the participants had not yet got into full swing of their celebrations and it was only an hour long flight. I dread to think what it must have been like on a flight to LAS where it is difficult if not impossible to put in place the safeguards I do most Saturday nights

Originally posted by RichardMannion

I'm nowhere near my Meldrew years,
Thanks,
Richard

Says who?[:w]

Have been thinking about this post since yday when I last put my two pence worth in.

Having worked in an off lisence, we were always told that common sense was the key when serving customers. Maybe some common sense from crew would help the situation- so stopping people from getting themselves drunk.

Sadly it is always the minority who let us 18-30s down- after all I was in a pub last night with some 300 18-25 year olds and didnt see anyone exhibiting any characteristics of binge drinking.

But there is a time and a place for drinking- and I feel an a/c at 38,000 feet is not it.

This is the question I keep asking myself over and over again.

It's not why do people do this it simply this:

Why the heck to they give away free alcohol on these flights? In fact why have alcohol at all up there???

Maybe keep some free wines and Champ' for PE & UC and maybe a wine with dinner for econ, but why have it available for the whole journey.

I have flown to the US many times with quite a few carriers and the flights that had limited or paid for booze had almost nobody drinking! Delta charge a silly amount for a small tin of beer, this makes it very unattractive to get sloshed.

[HighFlyer]

This thread and this one have both mooted the pro's and con's of removing alcohol from onboard, or even moving to a pay for drinks system.

I don't think the alcohol is the problem, its the people. And it only seems to be an issue on LAS flights.

Maybe LAS crews should be made of more experienced FAs who are better equipped to deal with these situations, or preferably, to stop these situations from occurring. I know its a hard task for the crew, but i for one do not want to see VS's currently good standards slip to that of something from 'Ibiza air uncovered'.

Thanks,
Sarah

Interesting topic, and one that might become more of an issue as "binge culture Britain" keeps moving up the political agenda.

It's already been touched upon in this thread, that the problem isn't Virgin's service as such but is a symptom of a deeper malaise in the UK and our relationship to drink. It's abundantly clear that a significant minority on the LAS route see their journey as a "free pub in the air" and take their usual attitude to a Friday-night beer (i.e. drink to I fall over) to, say, 43D. (My own experience of this was on a MAN-DUB Ryanair flight a few years' back - it felt like I was the only sober passenger!)

It puts Virgin in an awkward situation. How do they balance their reputation for service against their duty of care at 32,000ft? They "make 'em pay in Y" solution is possible, but how does Virgin implement this on a single route? And it penalises the majority for the excesses of a few.

My feeling is that the "pub landlord" approach would be best. So, we're talking experienced crews used to dealing with idiots and won't take the "easy life" route. Then, when it comes to the doling out of booze, it's made clear to the problem passengers that they're not getting any more after a certain point. For those that care to get rowdy about it, you'd hope the very real threat of having the cops waiting for them in Vegas would make them behave.

Darryl

I'm sorry to say (and I really don't understand why) that the Dubai flight is becoming just as bad for boozy stag parties etc.

It seems somewhat bazaar to go to a Muslim country for your stag party. I know that drink is available in the UAE, but it's hardly an all out booze-up city.

What kind of impression a load of British drunks gives to the locals hardly bears thinking about.

I'm very surprised to hear that about Dubai...

Originally posted by randalf

Interesting topic, and one that might become more of an issue as "binge culture Britain" keeps moving up the political agenda.

It's already been touched upon in this thread, that the problem isn't Virgin's service as such but is a symptom of a deeper malaise in the UK and our relationship to drink.

Afraid I don't believe the hype about binge drinking and the declining standards in the UK. The Press would have you believe we're going to 'hell in a hand cart' but it's no worse now than it was twenty years ago in most town centres in the UK. In fact with the relaxation of the licensing laws it's actually better as you don't get everyone spilling out onto the streets at the same time.

As for the issue of drinking to excess on planes, well just hand out cards which the passenger must read prior to receiving their boarding pass stating that rowdy or drunken behaviour won't be tolerated at all and that the airline reserves the right to refuse return passage if an individual causes a problem and / or take action to refer the individual to the relevant authorities at the point of arrival - Any subsequent costs incurred by taking action to be charged to the passenger

Jon B