Tension on the Milan-Brindisi flight, the woman risks paying 8 thousand euros in damages – Corriere.it

The low-cost airline Ryanair could even ask for 8,000 euros in compensation from the passenger who caused the Milan Malpensa-Brindisi flight to be almost three hours late last May 11th. This is the damage caused by the traveler who refused to interrupt the video call while the Boeing 737 was approaching the runway. The woman is also expected to end up on the Irish company’s black list, making it impossible for her to get back on board.

The link

Flight FR3416 was due to take off at 17.45. The plane, according to the traces provided by Flightradar24, arrived at Malpensa one hour late with the previous flight that took off from Catania. On board the connection to Brindisi, the woman did not want to put her mobile phone in airplane mode – as required by international regulations – and after showing a questionable attitude towards the cabin crew and some other travelers she was made to get off by the forces of the order.

The estimates

The Boeing thus took off at 20.34, almost three hours after the scheduled time. But, as written, an hour was the previous delay, so the other two hours are attributable to the harassing passenger. Upon arrival in Brindisi, the aircraft – which also spends the night at Malpensa – departed for the Lombard airport in the province of Varese, maintaining the three-hour delay. Each Ryanair aircraft departing from Malpensa – according to the numbers available to the Courier — generated revenues of 1,900 euros per hour in the first three months of this year. In short, the potential damage to the low cost caused by the problematic traveler was at least 7,600 euros in impact on revenues.

The tariff of the fines

On the economic repercussions of harassing attitudes, airlines move in no particular order. One of the few to explicitly clarify the effects of Wizz Air problem passengers. The European low cost company confirms that those who smoke on board face a fine of 3,000 euros, while those who come on board drunk or under the influence of drugs must pay a fine of 5,000 euros and risk up to two years in prison, which rises to five for anyone who damages the safety of an aircraft. On the other hand, anyone who forces the plane to divert elsewhere to be picked up by the police must reimburse the diversion costs ranging from 10,000 to 80,000 euros. In the latter case, ending up on the carrier’s blacklist seems to be the least of the problems.