Ryanair’s zero-tolerance war on unruly passengers has resulted in a thug on a flight from Krakow, Poland, to Bristol, England, being imprisoned for 10 months after being found guilty of breaking the country’s strict Air Rage laws.
The budget carrier launched its highly publicized campaign against disruptive passengers in 2024 after becoming increasingly frustrated with the delays and disruption that rowdy behavior by a small number of passengers was causing.
Like many carriers, Ryanair witnessed a spike in unruly passenger behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Dublin-based airline isn’t willing to let this become the new normal.
Rather than brushing inflight incidents under the carpet, Ryanair has been encouraging pilots and cabin crew to formally report unruly behavior to local authorities, and has been pressing the police and courts to prosecute offenders to the maximum extent of the law.
In this most recent case, Bristol Crown Court convicted an unruly passenger who disrupted Ryanair flight FR-5518 from Krakow to Bristol on November 11, 2025.
During the flight, the passenger allegedly started drinking his own Duty Free alcohol that he had brought on the plane, verbally abused his seatmates, and refused to comply with crew member instructions.
Despite pleading guilty to the charges, the court didn’t show much leniency and sentenced him to 10 months’ imprisonment.
“This demonstrates just one of the many consequences that passengers who disrupt flights will face as part of Ryanair’s zero-tolerance policy, commented Ryanair spokesperson Jade Kirwan.
“We hope this conviction will further deter disruptive behaviour on flights so that both passengers and crew can travel in a comfortable and stress-free environment.”
Unlike other airlines, Ryanair wants everyone to know when an unruly passenger has been convicted for an incident on one of its flights in the hope that everyone gets the message that disruptive behavior won’t be tolerated.
In some cases, where local officials refuse to press public charges, Ryanair has sought its own private civil and criminal prosecutions.
Last year, Ryanair revealed that it was suing a passenger who, the airline claims, forced the planeload of families who were flying from Dublin to Lanzarote to divert to Portugal because the passenger’s behavior was so appalling.
When Portuguese authorities refused to press charges, Ryanair sued the passenger for €15,000 to cover the cost of the diversion, putting all the passengers in hotel accommodation overnight, and even covering the cost of lost onboard sales after the food and drink were wasted.
The airline also brought its own private criminal prosecution in Spain against another passenger who delayed the departure of a domestic flight from Lanzarote after the passenger took someone else’s seat and then became verbally abusive towards the cabin crew.
Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary has long called for passengers to face strict limits on how much alcohol they can consume in the airport ahead of departure, because he believes this is a big contributory factor leading to in-flight incidents.
