Passenger ordered to pay more than US$5,000 in fuel costs after flight diverted due to bad behaviour

A plane is silhouetted as it takes off from Vancouver International Airport in Richmond, B.C., Monday, May 13, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

A problematic airline passenger has been hit with an unusual form of punishment – he has to pay back the airline for the cost of fuel.

According to the Australian Federal Police, a then-32-year-old man from Western Australia was disruptive on a flight headed from Perth to Sydney. As a result, the plane had to turn around and go back to Perth, which meant that the pilot was forced to dump some fuel to land.

Now, the passenger has been ordered to pay $8,630 AUD ($5,806 USD) back to the airline to cover the cost of the wasted fuel. The Perth Magistrate Court also fined him $6,055, meaning that his mid-air misbehaviour has a total price tag of AU$11,861 – likely many times higher than whatever he spent on the ticket.

“This incident should serve as a warning that criminal behavior on board can come at a heavy cost to the offender,” Shona Davis, the AFP’s Acting Superintendent, said in a statement.

“It’s far simpler to obey the directions of airline staff than cause unnecessary issues, which can end up hitting you in the hip pocket.”

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Although the flight happened on September 25, 2023, it has taken about a year for the case against the unruly passenger to work its way through the Australian legal system.

Neither the man nor the airline was publicly named, nor was it specified exactly what he did to earn such a hefty penalty.

The passenger pleaded guilty to one count of disorderly behavior on an aircraft and one count of failure to comply with safety instructions.

While charging a disruptive traveller for the cost of fuel is not a typical penalty, other kinds of fines are more common.

In 2021, the US Federal Aviation Administration announced that they would be introducing a zero-tolerance policy for fliers behaving badly on planes.

That year, passengers were issued fines for a range of incidents on planes across the United States, including one passenger who attempted to enter the plane’s cockpit and had to be restrained and another who punched a flight attendant in the face, sending them to the hospital. The most serious cases of in-flight mischief are also reported to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The single highest individual penalty, US$40,823, was issued to a traveller who brought their own alcohol on board, was intoxicated, attempted to smoke marijuana in the lavatory, and sexually assaulted a flight attendant – all in a single flight.

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