Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline, announced Thursday that it will impose fines starting at €500 ($579) on passengers whose disruptive behavior leads to their removal from a flight.
The budget carrier said it hopes the fine will serve as “a deterrent to eliminate this unacceptable behavior onboard our aircraft.”
“It is unacceptable that passengers are made to suffer unnecessary disruption because of one unruly passenger’s behavior,” a Ryanair spokesperson said.
Ryanair also pursue civil damages
Ryanair said disruptions were “caused by a tiny number of unruly passengers.”
In one incident in January, the airline sought more than €15,000 in damages after a flight from Dublin to Lanzarote, in Spain’s Canary Islands, was diverted to the Portuguese city of Porto due to a disruptive passenger.
A Ryanair flight from Glasgow to Krakow in June 2024 was diverted to Rzeszow, Poland, due to a disruptive passenger. The passenger was convicted in court and fined €3,230.
The airline has amended its terms and conditions to allow fines to be “taken directly from the card used to make the booking.”
Ryanair, which transported more than 200 million passengers between 2024 and 2025, had called on the European Union to limit the sale of alcohol at airports.
Edited by: Zac Crellin
