Misbehaving airline passenger gets huge fine

AN airline passenger was slapped with a hefty fine for his in-flight rowdy behavior.

The unnamed passenger was ordered by an Australian court to pay a fine of $8,630 AUD (roughly P325,000) on top of the $6,055 AUD (roughly P339,000) fine that the Perth Magistrate Court slapped against him.

The incident, according to the Australian Federal Police (AFP), happened in September 2023 when the 32-year-old man from Western Australia boarded a flight from Perth to Sydney.

His unruly behavior caused the plane to turn around and go back to Perth, which forced the pilot to dump some fuel to land.

The unnamed passenger has pleaded guilty to one count of disorderly behavior on an aircraft and one count of failure to comply with safety instructions.

Shona Davis, AFP’s Acting Superintendent, said in a statement that this incident should serve as a warning that “criminal behavior on board can come at a heavy cost to the offender”.

This is not the first time that an airline passenger was slapped with a hefty fine due to misbehavior.

In the United States (US), the most costly mischief inflight caused a traveler $40,823 USD (P2.2 million) in fines for bringing own alcohol on board, got intoxicated, attempted to smoke marijuana in the lavatory, and sexually assaulted a flight attendant.

The US Federal Aviation Administration announced in 2021 the implementation of a zero-tolerance policy for misbehaving on planes.

Several passengers that year were issued fines for a range of incidents on planes.

The most serious ones were also reported to the Department of Justice.(CMM)

• Tags
• #Airline Passenger
• #Perth Magistrate Court
• #Shona Davis
• #Inflight Mischief