Jocelynn Scutt seems to have forgotten the human right to freedom of association. Babies don't have a "human right" to be everywhere, regardless whether or not the owners of the place want them to be there, and neither do people who urinate on the floor. If Joceyln, and everyone who agrees with her, want to provide airline flights on the basis she espouses, they are should do so - at their own cost. Go ahead. Publish a prospectus and raise capital on the basis stated. That way cost and values will be perfectly aligned, and there will be no question of facile moral grandstanding on Jocelyn's part. Or perhaps I have a "human right" to be in Jocelyn's house without her consent and urinate on her loungeroom floor? There is no such thing as a "human right" to airline flights.

Good article Jocelynne. Airlines are different to most businesses in that their operations are not subject to state and local government jurisdiction.

Airlines create a lot of noise and pollution that would not be tolerated in any other business. In return, there is an implied social contract to carry all passengers. Obviously people who are violent or drunk are not tolerated but those with children or with a disability should be catered for as part of the social contract.

Peter Hume "Or perhaps I have a "human right" to be in Jocelyn's house without her consent and urinate on her lounge room floor?"

A puerile, invalid comparison - if in Jocelyn's house you could chose to use the toilet, go outside, or even use the kitchen sink. Those options were not available to Depardieu.

I have been in a similar, prostate caused, situation due to a long delayed push-back, but fortunately a male attendant opened a toilet for me against the protests of the female staff, just before urine would have involuntarily flown from my bladder.

What did these idiots expect me to do? Because they can "hold on" for long periods does not mean all can. What harm is there in using the toilet when the plane is stationary (or moving for that matter) at a time when it's safe for cabin staff to move around

L.B.

If it's not inconveniencing everyone else, I agree that the airline should do as you suggest. But that's not what Jocelynne's talking about. She's saying if it's *not* convenient for everyone else, you've got a *right*.

The puerile invalid argument is all Jocelynne's own; my argument is only reflecting hers at its own level. It's puerile because Jocelynne has failed to make the most basic distinction between somebody wanting something, and having a right to it. And it's invalid unless it applies equally to everyone else - including her!

Wattle
That's like saying because you make noise, there's an "implied social contract" that other people have a right to come onto your property without your consent.

I doubt I have ever read such a strange article as this one on OLO before!

Surely we can't equate an airline's discrimination against passengers with babies, with an obvious drunken idiot peeing in the aisle of a plane?

If, as the author suggests, Depardieau had a prostate problem, then he would have a reduced or slow 'flow' and thus would not have a 'strong stream' of urine that was too much for the bottle provided for him to pee in. Lol.

More than likely, he had drunk too much (as alleged by a newspaper report I read), and he had a full bladder from the alcohol over-indulgence.

How many other men have you heard of that needed to pee in the aisle of the plane because of not being allowed to go to the toilet during take-off or landing?

Not too many I would suggest.

Your suggestion that the airlines should provide portable urinals for men to pee in if the 'urgent' need arose during the short time of take-off and landing is laughable.

If they had an incontinence problem they would surely be able to attend to this problem themselves? Incontinence pads are quite effective these days.

Urinating into containers while seated in airline seats would be unpleasant in the extreme for all those around the man.

suzeonline,

You obviously have no direct experience of the range of men's prostrate-induced urine "problems", unless you are a man hiding behind a woman's pseudonym.

Being old, I have years of extensive personal experience, as well as detailed experience of the "problems" of close male friends, and you are dribbling (could not help that).