Ryanair will now file legal proceedings against disruptive passengers, the airline has confirmed.
The company is claiming €15,000 (£12,500) in damages against a passenger on a flight between Dublin and Lanzarote last year, claiming the customer disrupted the flight.
Ryanair contends the passenger’s behaviour forced flight FR7124 to divert to Porto, where it made an emergecy landing.
It was delayed overnight and caused passengers to “face unnecessary disruption as well as losing a full day of their holiday”.
The discount airline has described the passenger’s behaviour as “inexcusable” and “completely unacceptable”.
According to Ryanair, the 160 passengers were delayed overnight and missed a “full day of their holiday”.
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It said the €15,000 figure comes from the cost of overnight accommodation for the 160 passengers, their expenses, and landing costs, which it is now trying to claw back in the civil claim.
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 spokesman 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 spokesman said Ryanair hopes the civil proceedings in the Irish circuit court will deter further disruptive behaviour on flights.
The airline added: “This demonstrates just one of the many consequences that passengers who disrupt flights will face as part of Ryanair’s zero-tolerance policy, and we hope this action will deter further disruptive behaviour on flights so that passengers and crew can travel in a comfortable and respectful environment.”
It’s not the first time unruly passenger behaviour has caused chaos on a Ryanair flight.
In November, a Ryanair flight was forced to alert authorities ahead of landing in Tenerife after several passengers became disruptive on board, including one person reportedly “urinating” in the aisle.
The incident occurred on flight FR3152, which departed from East Midlands Airport on 4 November at 6.29am for the four-and-a-half hour flight to Tenerife South Airport.
Ryanair told The Independent: “The aircraft was met by local police upon arrival at Tenerife Airport and these passengers were removed.”
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has previously warned that violence fuelled by pre-flight drinking was spiralling out of control.
Speaking to The Telegraph in August, Mr O’Leary called for a two-drink limit at airport bars to combat drunken disorder following what he said had been a surge in in-flight violence.
“We don’t want to begrudge people having a drink,” he told the newspaper.
“But we don’t allow people to drink-drive, yet we keep putting them up in aircraft at 33,000ft.”
Crew members and other passengers have become targets, he said, with airport delays adding to the problem, as people have more time to drink/
“In the old days, people who drank too much would eventually fall over or fall asleep. But now those passengers are also on tablets and powder,” he added.
“It’s the mix. You get much more aggressive behaviour that becomes very difficult to manage.”