Ryanair has issued a warning to badly behaved passengers as the low-cost airline sues a holidaymaker over ‘disruptive’ behaviour.

The company is claiming £12,000 (15,000 euro) in damages against the passenger, who they say forced a flight between Dublin and Lanzarote last year to divert to Porto.

It was delayed overnight in the Portuguese city and caused 160 passengers to ‘face unnecessary disruption as well as losing a full day of their holiday’.

They slammed the passenger’s behaviour as ‘inexcusable’ and ‘completely unacceptable’.

It said the 15,000 euro figure comes from the cost of overnight accommodation, passenger expenses, and landing costs.

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’.

A spokesman said Ryanair hopes the civil proceedings in the Irish circuit court will deter further disruptive behaviour on flights. 

The company is claiming 15,000 euro in damages against the passenger, who they say forced a flight between Dublin and Lanzarote last year to divert to Porto

The company is claiming 15,000 euro in damages against the passenger, who they say forced a flight between Dublin and Lanzarote last year to divert to Porto

It said the 15,000 euro figure comes from the cost of overnight accommodation, passenger expenses, and landing costs

It said the 15,000 euro figure comes from the cost of overnight accommodation, passenger expenses, and landing costs

Announcing what the airline described as a ‘major clampdown’, they continued: ‘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. 

‘Yet this was regrettably the case for passengers on this flight from Dublin to Lanzarote last April, which was forced to divert to Porto as a result of an individual passenger’s disruptive behaviour, causing €15,000 in overnight accommodation, passenger expenses, and landing costs. 

‘We have now filed civil proceedings to recover these costs from this passenger.

‘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 comes just months after Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has said he would be ‘happy’ to introduce a two-drink limit on his company’s flights, as long as the same rules are applied to airport bars.

O’Leary admitted that the budget airline saw a ‘spike’ of violent disorder among its passengers over the last summer, adding that flights to party hotspot Ibiza were often the rowdiest. 

He told Sky News that would be ‘happy to [introduce the limit] tomorrow.’ 

He said: ‘If the price of putting a drink limit on the airport, where the problem is being created, is putting a drink limit on board the aircraft, we’ve no problem with that.

‘The real issue is how do we stop these people getting drunk at airports particularly as, like this summer, we’ve had a huge spike in air traffic control delays.

‘They’re getting on board with too much alcohol in their system. If we identify them as being drunk on board, we don’t serve them alcohol. But that doesn’t solve the problem.’ 

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