A PASSENGER who claimed to be a ‘UN diplomat with diplomatic immunity’ is going through felony prosecution after inflicting chaos on a Ryanair flight from Lanzarote to Santiago in January.
The disruption occurred when the person allegedly tried to sit down that wasn’t assigned to him.
He then turned verbally abusive when crew members requested to see his boarding card.
The incident resulted in a 40-minute departure delay, affecting 137 passengers earlier than the person was finally faraway from the flight by the Guardia Civil.
Ryanair has now initiated a non-public felony prosecution by way of the Spanish courts in opposition to the passenger following the incident, as a part of the airline’s zero-tolerance coverage towards disruptive conduct.
A Ryanair spokesperson mentioned: “It’s unacceptable that passengers, a lot of whom are on a household vacation, are struggling pointless delay because of one unruly passenger’s behaviour.
“But this was regrettably the case for passengers on this flight from Lanzarote to Santiago in January, throughout which a disruptive passenger triggered a departure delay as a result of his misconduct.”
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If convicted, the disruptive passenger may face severe penalties, together with ‘a sentence of 3-12 months imprisonment or a fantastic of 6-18 months’ wage,’ in keeping with the airline.
“We hope this instance will deter additional disruptive behaviour on Ryanair flights, in order that passengers and crew can journey in a snug and respectful atmosphere as is their proper,” the spokesperson added.
This case represents the most recent in Ryanair’s marketing campaign of pursuing authorized motion in opposition to passengers who trigger disruptions to flights, which the airline has described as ‘inexcusable behaviour.’
In January, it launched a €15,000 compensation bid in opposition to a passenger whom Ryanair accused of disrupting a flight in April 2024.
The corporate needed to put up 160 passengers in a single day after a flight from Dublin to Lanzarote was diverted to Portugal.
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In the meantime a British ‘groom to be’ needed to be escorted off a Ryanair flight touchdown in Alicante-Elche by Guardia Civil officers final weekend after he reportedly vaped all through all the journey.
One other passenger posted on-line: “This man was vaping for the entire of the flight, he had a warning from the pilot after which once we landed the police arrived.”
“All the pieces was kicking off. Apparently the person was getting married in Spain, think about that being the person you’re marrying, how embarrassing, all for a pineapple vape on a two hour flight.”
“What made it worse was that he stored calling everybody señor, I’m so embarrassed to be British proper now,” she concluded.
