Ryanair has imposed a five-year travel ban on a passenger whose disruptive behaviour forced a flight to divert earlier this year.
The airline is also pursuing legal action against the individual, seeking more than €3,000 in damages through Polish courts.
The incident occurred on January 9 when a flight from Berlin to Marrakesh was forced to land in Seville due to the passenger's conduct.
The diversion caused significant disruption to 170 passengers and six crew members aboard the aircraft.
The diversion caused significant disruption to 170 passengers and six crew members aboard the aircraft
GETTYRyanair has also reported the passenger to the Guardia Civil (Spanish Police) as part of its response to the incident.
The airline has taken a firm stance against the passenger's "inexcusable behaviour" which necessitated the unplanned landing.
"This passenger's inexcusable behaviour forced this flight to divert to Seville, where the aircraft landed, and the passenger was offloaded causing 170 passengers and six crew to face unnecessary disruption," Ryanair said.
The Polish resident's actions resulted in approximately €3,000 in damages according to the airline.
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Ryanair has now filed civil proceedings to recover these costs from the passenger.
A Ryanair spokesperson said: "It is unacceptable that passengers are suffering unnecessary disruption as a result of one unruly passenger's behaviour.
"Yet this was regrettably the case for passengers on this flight from Berlin to Marrakesh in January, which was forced to divert to Seville as a result of an individual passenger's disruptive behaviour, causing €3,000 in damages.
"We have now filed civil proceedings to recover these costs from this passenger."
The spokesperson added that this demonstrates "just one of the many consequences that passengers who disrupt flights will face as part of Ryanair's zero tolerance policy."
The Polish resident's actions resulted in approximately €3,000 in damages according to the airline
GETTY
The airline hopes this action will deter further disruptive behaviour on flights.
This is not an isolated case for the Irish carrier, which is currently pursuing damages from several passengers who have caused flight disruptions.
The airline is seeking €15,000 in damages from a passenger who disrupted a Dublin to Lanzarote flight last year, forcing a diversion to Porto.
Ryanair is also taking legal action against another passenger who claimed to be a UN diplomat and refused to provide documentation on a flight from Lanzarote to Galicia.
These cases come amid reports that airlines have experienced a threefold increase in unruly passenger behaviour between 2019 and 2023.
Ryanair appears to be intensifying its crackdown on disruptive conduct across its network.
