Ryanair has received a judgment for more than €15,000 damages, as well as its legal costs, against an Irish passenger over allegedly disruptive behaviour that forced a flight to be diverted.
The airline took the case in Dublin Circuit Civil Court against James Doherty, with an address at Lusk Town Centre apartments, Station Road, Lusk, Co Dublin.
While Ryanair issued a statement in February on the case, full details were not published at the time.
In its proceedings, Ryanair claimed Doherty had disrupted flight FR7124 from Dublin to Lanzarote on April 9th, 2024, resulting in it being diverted to Porto in Portugal.
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The proceedings were filed in January 2025 and after Doherty failed to enter an appearance, Ryanair brought a motion seeking judgment in the sum claimed.
On February 15th last, judgment for €15,224, plus Ryanair’s legal costs, was entered against Doherty by the county registrar.
In a statement in January 2025 announcing the filing of the claim, Ryanair said the passenger’s “completely unacceptable” behaviour forced the flight to divert to Porto where it was delayed overnight, causing 160 passengers to face unnecessary disruption and to lose a day of their holiday.
The diversion, Ryanair said, cost it €15,000 in overnight accommodation, passenger expenses and landing costs.
It said its proceedings were aimed at recovering the costs from the passenger.
The airline described the legal action as “just one of the many consequences that passengers who disrupt flights will face as part of Ryanair’s zero tolerance policy”.
“We hope this action will deter further disruptive behaviour on flights so that passengers and crew can travel in a comfortable and respectful environment.”
In a separate case, Ryanair this week welcomed a French court’s decision to convict two passengers over disruption of a flight.
Toulouse Criminal Court convicted two passengers who disrupted flight FR9251 from London Stansted to Ibiza on May 17th, 2025. Both received suspended sentences up to 10 months and received a combined penalty of more than €10,000, the airline said in a statement.
Ryanair said “unruly” behaviour by the accused forced 184 passengers and six crew to divert to Toulouse. The two accused became abusive towards fellow passengers and failed to comply with crew instructions, it said.
Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary, in an interview this week with The Times of London, said airports should be banned from serving alcohol to passengers before early flights in order to reduce the number of disruptive passengers on planes.
Ryanair was having to divert an average of nearly one flight a day because of bad behaviour onboard, up from one a week 10 years ago, he said.
“It’s becoming a real challenge for all airlines,” he said. “I fail to understand why anybody in airport bars is serving people at five or six o’clock in the morning. Who needs to be drinking beer at that time?”
Airport bars in the UK are not required to follow restrictions on opening hours that apply to other venues selling alcohol. O’Leary said no alcohol should be served at airports outside those licensing hours.
He said Ryanair rarely served more than two drinks to a passenger and called for a two-drink limit to be introduced at airports.
Being drunk on a plane is a criminal offence and can be punished by a fine and two years’ imprisonment.
