The air rage stopover

Shannon airport in the southwest of the Republic of Ireland has been supported for most of its nearly 60 year existence by some special breaks -- initially a duty-free zone to encourage flights to stop there, and then a mandate requiring all transatlantic flights to and from the Republic to stop there (now weakened to a 50 percent requirement). The required stopover will likely end within the next two years, but the airport looks like it will stay extra busy handling unscheduled landings prompted by air rage incidents. The airport still has the inherent advantage of location that got it started in the first place -- it is the closest landfall for a huge zone of the north Atlantic airspace and thus a likely port of call for flights that really need to land soon. And lately, air rage incidents have generated much of this need.

There is an especially curious case generating headlines the last few days in Ireland, not least because in all the reporting we have yet to hear the supposed ragers' side of the story. The basic details are that on an American Airlines redeye flight from JFK to Heathrow last Friday, two Manhattan residents got into a dispute with the flight attendants about access to the Business Class bathroom -- they were seated next to it, but in Economy Class, and so could not use it. At some point the dispute escalated to a point where the pilot felt a need to land before getting to Heathrow; hence Shannon, where the two passengers were ejected and arrested, jailed for 3 nights, took a guilty plea with massive fines and damages (amounting to having to pay nearly $50,000), were barred from flying two years excepting their return to New York, and even with that proviso were denied boarding by US Immigration on the first attempt to get back to New York (US Immigration processes passengers at Shannon).

Much is being left to extrapolation in the reporting. For instance, today's Irish Times continues the description "the two New York-based professional men," similar to other descriptions of two single men living at the same address. A gay couple? Maybe, but then there's the even more damning aspect: "Mr Warren Clamen (39) and Mr Guy Saint Arnaud (42), both from Canada." The unfortunate Canadians finally made it back to New York today, having lodged an appeal against their convictions.

Perhaps they will speak for themselves when back home, but the circumstances of this case make us suspect an injustice was done. Consider the power imbalance in this situation -- they are passengers on a plane, not US citizens, and stranded across an ocean from home. The post 9/11 environment has given airlines carte blanche to treat service complaints as security threats. The only recourse having gotten stuck in Shannon was presumably to shut up, pay the fines, and get home with as little additional difficulty as possible. The airline and US Immigration can do whatever they want.

And was it really necessary to land the plane prematurely? From Shannon to Heathrow for a plane already in the air can't be more than 45 minutes. Are the Limerick courts so much better at dealing with these things than those in London? We doubt it. We're always told that since 9/11, the cockpit can be sealed from threats on the rest of the aircraft, like some yelling about the bathroom, so why bother landing? Perhaps there have been snide remarks amongst the American Airlines staff about the drama queens on the flight. We suspect that there were drama queens onboard -- in American Airlines uniforms.