Warning issued by Ryanair as it introduces hefty fines for disruptive passengers

Ryanair has confirmed a €500 fine will be imposed on passengers whose behaviour results in them being offloaded from the aircraft

placeholder image — Ryanair has confirmed a €500 fine will be imposed on passengers whose behaviour results in them being offloaded from the aircraft

The low-fares airline has confirmed a €500 fine will be imposed on passengers whose behaviour results in them being offloaded from the aircraft

Ryanair is warning intending passengers who become unruly and disruptive on board its planes that they now face the prospect of being fined.

The low-fares airline has confirmed the introduction of a €500 fine for passengers whose behaviour results in them being offloaded from the aircraft.

The airline says its passengers expect to travel in a comfortable and stress-free environment with an on-time arrival, free from unnecessary disruption caused by a tiny number of unruly passengers.

“It is unacceptable that passengers are made to suffer unnecessary disruption because of one unruly passenger’s behaviour," said a spokesperson.

"To help ensure that our passengers and crew travel in a comfortable and stress-free environment, without unnecessary disruption caused by a tiny number of unruly passengers, we have introduced a €500 fine, which will be issued to any passengers offloaded from aircraft as a result of their misconduct," they added.

Ryanair said disruptive passengers is an industry-wide issue affecting all airlines but that it is committed to tackling unruly passenger behaviour for the benefit of its passengers and crew.

"While these are isolated events which happen across all airlines, disruptive behaviour in such a confined shared space is unacceptable, and we hope that our proactive approach will act as a deterrent to eliminate this unacceptable behaviour onboard our aircraft," added the spokesperson.

Ryanair announced in January it had started taking legal action to recover losses from disruptive passengers, as part of what it described as a “major misconduct clampdown”.

It said it had initiated civil proceedings against a passenger in Ireland to seek €15,000 in damages related to a flight from Dublin to Lanzarote which diverted to Porto in April last year.

Ryanair contends that the behaviour of the passenger resulted in the diversion.

The imposition of €500 fines is separate to any civil proceedings that may be launched against passengers who are removed from Ryanair aircraft.