Europe’s biggest airline is sick of dealing with disruptive passengers.
Budget giant Ryanair said this week it is taking legal action against a disruptive flyer for the second time this year as it continues its “major passenger misconduct clampdown.”
The airline said Wednesday that it had filed a private criminal prosecution through the Spanish courts after an incident in January.
Flight 2001 was about to depart Lanzarote — a popular vacation destination in Spain’s Canary Islands — for Santiago de Compostela, a city in the north of mainland Spain.
However, the passenger tried to take a seat that wasn’t assigned to him and became “verbally abusive” when the crew asked to see his boarding pass, the airline said.
Ryanair added that he said he was a United Nations diplomat and had diplomatic immunity. It’s unclear whether this claim was accurate.
Ryanair said the Guardia Civil, Spain’s military police, removed him from the plane, causing a 40-minute delay.
The budget airline criticized the unnamed man for disrupting 137 passengers.
“It is unacceptable that passengers, many of whom are on a family holiday, are suffering unnecessary delay as a result of one unruly passenger’s behavior,” a Ryanair spokesperson said.
They added that if found guilty, the court could impose a prison sentence of three to 12 months or a fine of six to 18 months’ salary.
“These are just some of the potential consequences under Ryanair’s zero-tolerance policy for passengers who disrupt flights.”
Wednesday’s announcement comes two months after Ryanair brought a civil case against another unruly passenger.
It said their “inexcusable behavior” caused a flight from Dublin to Lanzarote to divert to Porto, Portugal, leading to an overnight delay.
The airline sought over 15,000 euros, around $15,500, in damages — relating to overnight accommodation, passenger expenses, and landing costs.
Disruptive passengers have been a bigger issue for airlines and travelers post-pandemic.
Such reports rose to 5,973 in 2021 — more than five times the number in 2019, according to statistics from the Federal Aviation Administration.
While incidents have since dropped, they remained above 2,000 from 2022 to 2024 — more than double pre-pandemic highs.
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