Passenger ordered to pay thousands of dollars in fuel costs after bad behavior diverts flight
An Australian man has been charged thousands of dollars in fuel charges and fines after his unruly behavior diverted a flight last year.
The 33-year-old man, who was not identified, was on a flight from Perth to Sydney on Sept. 25, 2023 when he started misbehaving, the Australian Federal Police said in a news release. Police did not specify how he was disrupting the flight, but said that his behavior “caused the flight to return to Perth.”
Because of the early return, the pilot had to dump fuel before landing, and the rest of the passengers had to be reaccomodated on a later flight.
CBS News previously reported, and had to be restrained with flex cuffs as the flight diverted.
In 2022, the FAA announced it was enacting a zero-tolerance policy against unruly passengers.
“Behaving dangerously on a plane will cost you; that’s a promise,” said Acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen at the time. “Unsafe behavior simply does not fly and keeping our Zero Tolerance policy will help us continue making progress to prevent and punish this behavior.”
Kerry Breen
Source: cbsnews.com