Turkish Airlines is considering banning alcohol on flights to and from Russia.
According to Russian newspaper Izvestia, the Istanbul-based airline is fed up with Russian travelers getting too rowdy on flights. Turkey is a popular vacation destination for Russian tourists, but their tendency to drink alcohol may be too much to handle, the Washington Post reports.
The possible ban comes after a series of incidents in which Russian travelers became rowdy after having too much to drink. These incident are becoming a big problem as just 2012 alone, police had to become involved in 28 incidents on Turkish Airlines flights between Turkey and Russia.
Earlier this month, a loud drunken Russian man started a fight with several members of a Russian soccer team on a Turkish airlines flight. The incident became so intense that the men were wrestling in the aisles. The incident was caught on a cell phone video.
According to the Washington Post, Russia's alcohol consumption rates are among the highest in the world, so it's not surprising that it could lead to trouble in some situations. Many studies have been done on alcohol consumption in Russia.
According to a 2002 study in the American Journal of Public Health, "Some researchers have suggested that it is the nature of alcohol consumption in Russia - a large proportion of alcohol is consumed in the form of distilled spirits (mainly vodka) and drunk in binges, often in unregulated settings - that is responsible for alcohol's unique impact on the incidence of various types of alcohol-related mortality (e.g., alcohol poisoning) and violence."
It's not clear if the airline will actually carry through with banning alcohol on Russian flights. Russia has a population of 143 million people so it may not be fair to punish every Russian passengers based on the behavior of some individuals that caused problems. However Turkish Airlines had banned alcohol on some routes already. Alcohol is prohibited on flights to Saudi Arabia, but this was likely done as alcohol is illegal in the conservative country.
The airline already doesn't serve alcohol in economy class.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
