SAA cabin crew in hot water
2006-04-06 08:23
Pretoria - SAA cabin crew on a weekend flight between Cape Town and Johannesburg allegedly kept topping up the glass of an already tipsy passenger seated next to two children.
"Eventually I stopped counting the number of brandies and Coke they had served him. They kept plying him with alcohol," said Rolf Schubert, a passenger on Sunday's 09:40 flight.
The children, a girl of about three and her brother of about six, were travelling alone.
"One could smell the alcohol. He talked a lot, and even the children started looking uncomfortable," said Schubert, who was seated two rows behind the man.
Schubert said it was unacceptable for crew to ply the man with alcohol while the airline was taking responsibility for the children flying without their parents.
SAA said they'd spoken to the parents to explain the situation.
As a rule, the airline preferred seating a female passenger next to children travelling alone. The passenger who was supposed to sit next to the children might have missed the flight, upon which the male passenger might have obtained the seat while checking in.
Jacqui O'Sullivan, spokesperson for SAA, said cabin crew used their own discretion when serving alcohol. "According to a senior member of the cabin crew, the particular passenger was far from being intoxicated."