Ryanair to hit passengers with £500 fine and offload them from flights

Ryanair passengers who are disruptive during flights face being hit with a £500 fine and being offloaded from the aircraft. The budget airline says the strict new rules come as part of efforts to clamp down onunruly behaviour onboard.

Ryanair said this will be the "minimum" punishment and it will continue to pursue passengers for civil damages. The policy aims to ensure passengers can travel comfortably and in a "stress-free" environment with an on-time arrival, free from disruption caused by a small number of passengers. Ryanair said misconduct from passengers during flights is an industry-wide issue affecting all airlines and it is committed to tackling the unruly behaviour for the benefit of its customers and crew. It is hoped the strict punishment will act as a "deterrent" for passengers and ensure flights aren't disrupted unnecessarily.

A Ryanair spokesperson said: "It is unacceptable that passengers are made to suffer unnecessary disruption because of one unruly passenger's behaviour.

"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.

"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."

To further enhance passenger and crew safety onboard, Ryanair has repeatedly called for alcoholic drinks to be limited to two per passenger at airport bars before flights, claiming this would provide "a safer travel experience".

When passengers cause disruption on flights it can result in the aircraft having to be diverted, often costing the airline thousands of pounds.

Ryanair has previously identified four UK airports - Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh - as particularly problematic for drinking pre-flight with chief executive Michael O'Leary saying it's time that limits at airport bars are introduced.

Speaking to the Telegraph last year, he said: "We don't want to begrudge people having a drink. But we don't allow people to drink-drive, yet we keep putting them up in aircraft at 33,000 feet. As long as they can stand up and shuffle they will get through. Then when the plane takes off we see the misbehaviour."

Current rules on Ryanair allow duty-free alcohol with a maximum of 70% ABV to be brought into the cabin, but it cannot be consumed during the flight. Any alcohol duty-free items must remain unopened and stored in the cabin until passengers arrive at their destination to help prevent disruptive behaviour during flights.

Passengers should also be aware that Ryanair staff search bags before allowing people to board flights to certain destinations, including some of the Greek islands and Ibiza, one of the "party destinations" worst affected by antisocial behaviour.

A Ryanair spokesperson said: "It is time that European Union authorities take action to limit the sale of alcohol at airports. Airlines like Ryanair already restrict and limit the sale of alcohol on board our aircraft, particularly in disruptive passenger cases. However, during flight delays, passengers are consuming excess alcohol at airports without any limit on purchase or consumption.

"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 behaviour on board aircraft, and a safer travel experience for passengers and crews all over Europe."