Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 passenger airline, today (Mon 13 Jan) provided set of details of the cost and fees it incurred as a direct result of a disruptive passenger on board its flight from Dublin to Lanzarote on 9^th April 2024. Because of this disruptive passenger’s behaviour, the aircraft was forced to divert to Porto, where it landed and the passenger was offloaded and arrested. Due to crew hours restrictions the aircraft, crew and over 160 passengers were forced to overnight in Porto Airport, with the cost of accommodation, meals, etc being funded entirely by Ryanair. The airline also had to provide an additional aircraft and crew to operate the delayed return flight from Lanzarote to Dublin, which took place on 10^th April 2024.

As a direct result of this disruptive passenger behaviour, over 160 passengers and 6 crew were forced to divert to, and overnight in Porto Airport, and then flew onwards to Lanzarote on the following day 10^th Apr 2024. There has been some commentary about the €15,000 cost of this diversion, which Ryanair has broken down as follows:

A spokesperson for Ryanair said:

“None of these costs would have been incurred if this disruptive passenger had not forced a diversion to Porto in order to protect the safety of the aircraft, 160 passengers and 6 crew members on board. European Govts repeatedly fail to take action when disruptive passengers threaten aircraft safety and force them to divert. In this case, the Portuguese Prosecution ruled that because the aircraft and the passenger are Irish, this case should be transferred to Ireland. Ryanair is therefore taking a civil proceeding against this passenger in the Irish Courts to recover these costs, which were incurred wholly and exclusively as a result of the disruptive passenger’s behaviour, which caused not just a diversion, but an overnight in Porto of over 160 passengers and 6 crew member and the operating aircraft.

It is time that EU authorities take action to limit the sale of alcohol at airports. Airlines, like Ryanair, already restrict and limit the sale of alcohol on board our aircraft, particularly in disruptive passenger cases. However, during flight delays, passengers are consuming excess alcohol at airports without any limit on purchase or consumption. We fail to understand why passengers at airports are not limited to 2 alcoholic drinks (using their boarding pass in exactly the same way they limit duty free sales), as this would result in safer and better passenger behaviour on board aircraft, and a safer travel experience for passengers and crews all over Europe.”