Ryanair flight 7124 took off as planned from Dublin airport on April 9, 2024, heading to Lanzarote, Spain. But mid-flight, a drunk and unruly passenger disrupted operations, causing the plane to divert to Porto, Portugal instead. After landing, the crew reached their maximum work hours and weren’t allowed to fly again without resting. So the plane, crew, and passengers were forced to overnight in Portugal and depart for Lanzarote the next morning. Ryanair had to shell out more than 15,000 euros on food, accommodation, and other costs associated with crew and airport fees.
As crazy as it all sounds, this story isn’t totally unique in an era of travel in which unruly passenger incidents have become increasingly common. What is notable about this story, however, is that Ryanair is now suing the disruptive passenger for the full cost of the damages, and requesting that EU authorities impose a two-drink limit in European airports for all travelers to avoid similar situations in the future.
“We fail to understand why passengers at airports are not limited to two alcoholic drinks (using their boarding pass in exactly the same way they limit duty free sales), as this would result in safer and better passenger behavior on board aircraft, and a safer travel experience for passengers and crews all over Europe,” Ryanair said in a recent statement.
Drunk passengers are a well-documented issue across the airline industry. So much so that in 2022—when the number of unruly passenger incidents was cresting during the pandemic—some cabin crew pushed to limit onboard alcohol consumption. That year, the union representing American Airlines flight attendants requested alcoholic drinks in economy be capped at two per customer to help with episodes of out-of-control fliers. (The limit never happened.)
Unruly passenger incidents in the US have dropped by 80% “since record highs in early 2021,” according to the FAA, “but recent increases show there remains more work to do.” As the number of incidents have waned, the initiative to limit alcohol seems to have lost steam in the US. But drunk and unruly fliers are still a massive issue for airlines around the world. In 2023, for example, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) reported 1 incident for every 480 flights worldwide, based on data from 50 international airlines. Plus, the “number of reports mentioning verbal and physically abusive behaviors also increased in 2023,” IATA’s report says. In 2024, there were 2,102 unruly passenger incidents reported to the FAA, who referred at least 43 of the cases to the FBI for criminal prosecution review.
What’s more: An airport drink limit appears to have solid support from travelers. According to a recent YouGov poll of 6,771 British adults, 62% of respondents said they would support a two-drink limit in airport bars. Only 9% of respondents strongly opposed the idea.
But some airline experts are less enthused about a potential limit’s effectiveness, at least as a standalone solution. “The two-drink limit is a band-aid,” a spokesperson for The European Cockpit Association, which represents 40,000 pilots, told travel industry site Skift in January. “The real fix is stronger enforcement and better laws. While limiting alcohol consumption onboard can mitigate some issues, it doesn’t tackle the root cause: the lack of robust regulatory and enforcement mechanisms on the ground.”