Alcohol is the biggest factor fuelling shameful behaviour on Australian flights,  including sexual activity and attacking others with foul language in front of small children.

Australian Federal Police case summaries stretching back four years show the vast majority of offensive and disorderly behaviour cases they investigated involved alcohol, according to documents obtained by a freedom of information request.

Offending passengers were often so drunk that their questioning had to be delayed and one research organisation has called for stiffer penalties for drunk flyers.

Flight attendants confiscated vodka smuggled on board by one Japanese businessman making the 10-hour flight from Tokyo to the Gold Coast after the man's heated arguments with surrounding passengers.

The man had inappropriately touched a female passenger without her consent and spent part of the flight openly flicking through a hard-core porn magazine to the disgust of those around him. Those watching the man said he pulled his trousers down, stuck his hand down his black tights and "engaged in vigorous hand movements".

One passenger sleeping under a blanket on another flight from Indonesia to Australia awoke to find a drunk man's urine splashing on the nearby floor and onto his blanket.

The urinating passenger was so drunk he could not be interviewed by AFP when the plane landed in Sydney hours later.

The documents showed a drunk female on one flight was ordered to pay cleaning costs after she urinated on three seats.

One passenger on  another flight was forced to guard a man so he could not wander down the aisle after the drunk man urinated on a seat and left his penis out for the remainder of the flight and until police interviewed him.

Some drunken flyers also complained they were not allowed to smoke.  Others lit up anyway.

Others wandered around the cabin after continuously being told by the flight crew to sit down and fell on passengers who were in their seats.

Michael Thorn, chief executive of Canberra-based Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education, said stiffer penalties should be considered for being intoxicated on a flight and "greater care taken to not permit intoxicated people onto aircraft."

"Given the number of alcohol-fuelled situations on Australian airlines requiring police intervention, the current policies are clearly failing or aren't being effectively enforced," Mr Thorn said.

"Airlines wishing to take further steps to prevent alcohol-related harm should also consider measures such as limiting the amount of liquor served to each passenger – for instance, by providing no more than four standard drinks on a single occasion in accordance with Australia's alcohol guidelines."

Courts ordered many of the intoxicated passengers to pay fines. Police gave others warnings.

Police fined one man after he tried to scare fellow passengers by loudly and inappropriately referring to the MH-17 disaster just two weeks after the aircraft had been shot down over the Ukraine,  killing almost 300 people.

An intoxicated football player on his way to Cairns grabbed a female flight attendant around the waist with both hands and was fined $2000 during a later court appearance.

Drunken blow-ups occurred over the most minor issues.

Documents show one boozed-up bloke threatened to punch the economy class cabin manager if he did not receive a different meal.

One intoxicated passenger let fly with expletives when asked to open the window shade as the plane was descending. Most of the time passengers could do little but sit and watch the unpleasant spectacle of a tipsy traveller, such as the inebriated man who locked himself in a toilet cubicle for 15 minutes until the plane landed despite warnings from the crew.

He opened the door only once during the descent to stick up his middle finger.

Another wolf-whistled at a flight attendant and made gestures regarding her breasts in front of a group of elderly passengers, who later filled out police statements.

Alex Davis, spokesperson for education organisation Healthy Options Australia, said a reduction in alcohol consumption on flights would increase safety for passengers and crews.

She said most passengers were responsible about their alcohol consumption but that anyone thought to be intoxicated should be treated with a zero tolerance approach by airline crews.

Only a handful of the almost 100 offensive and disorderly cases involved illicit or prescription drugs.