Many Cayman Marl Road readers have been curious about what has happened to a passenger featured in a viral video from earlier this week.
As reported in that story a passenger en route to Jamaica on Cayman Airways XK 620 Monday morning and experienced some sort of religious episode that saw her jumping and screaming. The story proved to be quite a popular one with over 10,800 reads on this forum alone. Our Facebook post gathered almost 30,000 views. Additionally, another Facebook poster and comedian KevOnStage's video received over 335,000 views of 3,400 shares.
There were varying points of view on the situation and people were not hesitant to express how they felt about the situation. On the one hand, some persons felt that she should not be questioned as she was clearly appointed by God to somehow save the plane and may have very well diverted an accident with her episode. They felt that questioning her motives were tantamount to questioning God himself. Some did not believe she should have been removed from the flight.
We live in a multicultural society…and also one that practices freedom of religion. Becoming overwhelmed with the “holy Ghost (Spirit)” is a real experience for many. Best left alone. I do think that our Airline might need training in this area…taking person off flight doesn't seem logical to me.
However, others, including some Christians indicated this was not, in their opinion, condoned by God by was mere dramatic flare that could be dangerous if a precedent is not set. One person informed us that some Haitian heart patients who had gone to Health City were on the plane and were visibly upset by the episode.
I have been a christian for more than 60 years and I read the Holy Bible every day. People who read and know the scriptures, know that it does not support such behavior, regardless of who says what.
Our sources have informed us that as of yesterday the passenger, identified as Ms. Barbara Cecile Bryan, remains on islands. Apparently she was removed from the flight that day and had her ticket canceled for travel for the following morning. We understand that Cayman Airways/CIAA is in talks as to whether or not she should be banned from traveling on the airline and for how long.
Whilst this may appear comical it does raise an interesting safety concern about disruptive passengers. Disruptive passenger behavior is one of the main reasons for aircraft diversions. Disruptive behavior in-flight or on the ground can affect your safety and the safety of fellow passengers. Besides safety implications, it can have serious consequences, including civil prosecution. Airlines have a right to refuse to carry passengers that they consider to be a potential risk to the safety of the aircraft, its crew or its passengers.
In the UK 2016 saw the highest number of disruptive passenger reports for the past five years. There were 418 flights in 2016 that had one or more disruptive passengers. This is more than double the number of reports seen last year; in part, this is due to more rigorous reporting and a zero-tolerance approach to disruptive behavior.
In the United States, passengers who disrupt the duties of a flight crew member can face fines up to $25,000 and sometimes lengthy prison sentences. In addition, the airline can choose to ban the problem passenger from any future flights. In August a woman was fined almost USD $100,00 when a flight had to turn back because of her disruptive behavior. Read more
In Australia, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority reserves the right to use stun guns to subdue unruly passengers
We understand she has Cayman status which was granted in December 2003 by Cabinet.
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