An Australian man was compelled to pay an airline’s fuel costs and fined thousands of dollars more after his unruly onboard behavior prompted the captain to turn that flight around and ultimately cancel the journey.
According to the Australian Federal Police, the incident took place on a flight from Perth to Sydney on Sept. 25, 2023. A 33-year-old man from Western Australia was misbehaving onboard, and the pilot was forced to dump fuel before returning to Perth and landing.
The man pleaded guilty last week to one count of disorderly behavior on an aircraft and one count of failure to comply with safety instructions.
He was forced to pay $8,630 Australian (about USD $5,741) in fuel costs to the airline and fined an additional $9,000 Australian (about USD $5,987).
“This incident should serve as a warning that criminal behavior on board can come at a heavy cost to the offender,” acting Australian Federal Police superintendent Shona Davis 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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Unruly passenger behavior has been a major issue at U.S. airlines in recent years as well, and the Federal Aviation Administration referred 43 such incidents to the Department of Justice in the last year.
Zach Wichter is a travel reporter for USA TODAY based in New York. You can reach him at [email protected].