Air carrier captain reported a passenger appeared intoxicated during boarding; but was allowed to fl...

Narrative:

During boarding; the flight attendant notified me of a passenger that she thought appeared to be intoxicated. We called the customer service to notify her that a passenger appeared to be intoxicated. Customer service stated to me that the passenger did not appear to be intoxicated at that time. Under my observation; she did not appear that she was intoxicated. Enroute; I received a call from the flight attendant that the passenger was struggling to buckle her seatbelt and continued to take her mask off after multiple requests had been made. I made the non-compliance announcement for mask requirements; and she did not comply with the request either. We decided to have ZZZ1 customer service meet us at the gate to have the passenger removed. I notified dispatch and ZZZ1 operations to ensure we had someone meeting us at the aircraft. Upon arrival; customer service removed the passenger without any further issues. The event was caused by a passenger being intoxicated and a delayed reaction of the alcohol entering the blood stream; causing the effects of the alcohol to not become noticeable until enroute. Next time a passenger is appearing to be intoxicated; although multiple opinions on whether they appear to be intoxicated; have the passenger removed and tested for alcohol.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier Captain reported a passenger appeared intoxicated during boarding; but was allowed to fly. During the flight the passenger was non-compliant with face mask policy.

Narrative: During boarding; the Flight Attendant notified me of a passenger that she thought appeared to be intoxicated. We called the customer service to notify her that a passenger appeared to be intoxicated. Customer service stated to me that the passenger did not appear to be intoxicated at that time. Under my observation; she did not appear that she was intoxicated. Enroute; I received a call from the Flight Attendant that the passenger was struggling to buckle her seatbelt and continued to take her mask off after multiple requests had been made. I made the non-compliance announcement for mask requirements; and she did not comply with the request either. We decided to have ZZZ1 customer service meet us at the gate to have the passenger removed. I notified Dispatch and ZZZ1 Operations to ensure we had someone meeting us at the aircraft. Upon arrival; customer service removed the passenger without any further issues. The event was caused by a passenger being intoxicated and a delayed reaction of the alcohol entering the blood stream; causing the effects of the alcohol to not become noticeable until enroute. Next time a passenger is appearing to be intoxicated; although multiple opinions on whether they appear to be intoxicated; have the passenger removed and tested for alcohol.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1759478
Time
Date	202009
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Commercial Fixed Wing
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Passenger Misconduct

Air carrier captain reported a passenger appeared intoxicated during boarding; but was allowed to fly. During the flight the passenger was non-compliant with face mask policy.