Ryanair has filed civil proceedings seeking €15,000 in damages from a passenger who allegedly disrupted a flight from Dublin to Lanzarote.
As per Ryanair, it is committed to ensuring that all passengers and crew travel in a safe and respectful environment, without unnecessary disruption caused by a tiny number of unruly passengers.
In a statement, the airline said an incident occurred on the 9 April 2023 flight, which resulted in the plane being diverted to Porto, where it was delayed overnight.
Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (Wed, 8 Jan) confirmed that is has filed legal proceedings in the Irish Circuit Court claiming over €15,000 in damages against a passenger who disrupted flight FR7124 from Dublin to Lanzarote on 9 Apr last.
Carrier said that 160 passengers had to undergo unnecessary flight disruption and lost one day of their holidays.
This passenger’s inexcusable behaviour forced this flight to divert to Porto where it was delayed overnight, causing 160 passengers to face unnecessary disruption as well as losing a full day of their holiday.
The airline said it filed the claim in the Circuit Court to recover costs incurred after the flight on 9 April 2024 was forced to divert to Porto, where it was delayed overnight.
In a press release, Ryanair said it is “now prosecuting disruptive passengers personally” in what it described as a “major misconduct clamp down”.
A spokesperson said:
“It is unacceptable that passengers — many of whom are heading away with family or friends to enjoy a relaxing summer holiday — are suffering unnecessary disruption and reduced holiday time as a result of one unruly passenger’s behaviour."
“Yet this was regrettably the case for passengers on this flight from Dublin to Lanzarote last April, which was forced to divert to Porto as a result of an individual passenger’s disruptive behaviour, causing €15,000 in overnight accommodation, passenger expenses, and landing costs."
“We have now filed civil proceedings to recover these costs from this passenger."
“This demonstrates just one of the many consequences that passengers who disrupt flights will face as part of Ryanair’s zero tolerance policy, and we hope this action will deter further disruptive behaviour on flights so that passengers and crew can travel in a comfortable and respectful environment.”
Concern about drunkenness and aggrieve passengers came to a head last year when Ryanair’s chief executive Michael O’Leary called for a two-drink limit at airport bars to curb the problem.
During 2024 summer, carriers said, enough is enough and indicated there would be a clampdown on unacceptable behaviour on flights as they said there had been a three-fold increase in passenger “unruly behaviour” between 2019 and 2023, with more frequent instances of intoxicated passengers, aggressive or inappropriate behaviour, and not following the directions of cabin crew.
Additionally, all Irish carriers and airports, the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA), An Garda Síochána, AirNav Ireland, ground handlers, and international aviation organisations signed a declaration on how such incidents will be dealt inflight.
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