Ryanair is weighing more lawsuits against disruptive passengers after confirming that it is seeking €15,000 from an individual whose behaviour forced a Dublin-Lanzarotte flight to divert last year.
The airline is seeking €15,000 in damages against a passenger on a flight between Dublin and Lanzarote last April, claiming the customer disrupted the flight and 160 other people on board.
Ryanair said on Wednesday that there were other cases where it was considering taking legal action against individual disruptive passengers, but added it had yet to decide finally.
The carrier contends that the passenger’s behaviour forced a Lanzarote-bound flight from Dublin to divert to Porto, where it was delayed overnight and caused 160 passengers to “face unnecessary disruption as well as losing a full day of their holiday”.
The airline has described the passenger’s behaviour as “inexcusable” and “completely unacceptable”.
It said the €15,000 figure comes from the cost of overnight accommodation, passenger expenses and landing costs, which the airline had to pay following the incident.
“We have now filed civil proceedings to recover these costs from this passenger,” said a statement.
Ryanair said it has a strict zero-tolerance policy towards passenger misconduct, adding it “will continue to take decisive action to combat unruly passenger behaviour on aircraft”.
Announcing what the airline described as a “major clampdown”, a spokeswoman 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.”
The spokeswoman said Ryanair hopes the civil proceedings in the Circuit Court will deter further disruptive behaviour on flights.
The company maintains that its chief concerns are the welfare of the “vast majority of passengers who do not disrupt flights”, its pilots and cabin crews, who have to deal directly with troublesome customers.
Lawsuits are a new policy intended to deter unruly behaviour on the carrier’s fights.
Previously the airline has used travel bans, some for up to 10 years, where it has had problems with individual passengers.
It has also reported incidents to local law enforcement. A week before Christmas, an Athens court fined a passenger €400 and gave the individual a five-month suspended jail sentence.
The passenger had disrupted a flight to the Greek capital by refusing to follow crew instructions.
Ryanair welcomed the decision saying that it demonstrated that the “tiny number of passengers that disrupt flights will face consequences for their unruly behaviour”.
- Additional reporting: PA
