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 reaccommodated on a later flight. 

The man was arrested by the Australian Federal Police after the flight landed, and charged with one count of disorderly behavior on an aircraft and one count of failure to comply with safety instruction. 

He pleaded guilty to the charges last week. 

He was fined $9,000 Australian dollars, or about $6,000 USD, the Australian Federal Police said. He was also charged about $5,600 USD, in “reparation costs to the airline to cover the cost of fuel from the flight.” 

Australian Federal Police acting superintendent Shona Davis said that she hopes this outcome will dissuade others from acting out while flying. 

“This incident should serve as a warning that criminal behaviour on board can come at a heavy cost to the offender,” Davis said. “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.”

Earlier this year, a British man was charged over $20,000 for outbursts on a flight from London, England to Newark, New Jersey. The flight was diverted to Bangor, Maine after Alexander Michael Dominic MacDonald’s argument with his girlfriend escalated into him yelling at a flight attendant. MacDonald eventually became “verbally and physically aggressive,” 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.”