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Warning cards for 'ground rage'

BA borrowed the scheme from the football yellow-card system
BA borrowed the scheme from the football yellow-card system

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LONDON, England -- British Airways has become the first airline to bring in soccer-style yellow cards for "ground rage" passengers.

The final warning cards were already in force on BA planes for "air rage."

Now the airline has announced that cards will be shown to any traveller who is disruptive or abusive towards a member of its ground staff.

The yellow card will warn passengers that if they do not moderate their behaviour then police will be called or passengers may be refused travel.

"Recent reports from our staff suggest the number of ground rage incidents is on the increase," says BA's safety and security director Geoff Went.

"Our staff have to deal with aggressive behaviour on a daily basis, and at least once a month this turns to physical abuse," he told the UK Press Association.

"We hope the cards will defuse the situation on the ground to avoid the behaviour escalating in the air, which may put passengers and crew at risk at 35,000 feet.

"We know from our experience of dealing with disruptive passengers in the air that in the vast majority of cases, issuing a yellow card is successful and causes passengers to refrain from further abusive behaviour."

BA said the scheme was borrowed from the football yellow-card system and acted as a final warning to passengers.

The airline pointed out that it carries more than 40 million passengers each year and it was only a tiny minority of passengers who were disruptive.



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