Latest news with #disruptivepassengers
Irish Times
6 days ago
- General
- Irish Times
Gardaí dealt with more disruptive passengers at Dublin Airport so far this year than in all of 2024
Gardaí have dealt with more incidents involving disruptive passengers at Dublin Airport so far this year than in all of 2024, the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) has said. The incidents reported include unruly passengers fighting among themselves; obstructing, abusing or assaulting staff; or refusing to obey safety instructions. Alcohol is said to be a factor in many of the cases, while staff say drug taking is increasingly a feature. The latest IAA-published Garda statistics, released as part of an aviation industry campaign aimed at addressing disruptive behaviour, show gardaí dealt with 30 such incidents in the opening months of 2025. This is an 80 per cent increase on the number of reports across all of last year, the IAA said. READ MORE Ryanair says there is an average of three serious incidents for every thousand flights it operates. In January it filed a civil legal action seeking €15,000 in damages against a passenger who it said caused a flight from Dublin to Lanzarote to be diverted to Porto in April of last year. It is a sign of the airline's 'zero tolerance' approach to a growing problem, its head of communications Jade Kirwan said on Thursday. Fórsa, the union that represents the majority of cabin crew and pilots at the two main Irish airlines, said the scale of the increase is all the more remarkable because it comes before the summer season, when most of these incidents occur. 'It picks up as the number of flights increases and people are looking to let their hair down while travelling,' said Fórsa national secretary Katie Morgan. 'We are being told of instances where drugs are being taken on-board, people are doing lines of cocaine or drinking the duty-free they have just bought in the airport,' she said. She said there have been instances of cabin crew being abused, pushed or spat on for asking people to sit down and behave themselves. 'Sometimes it can be two people fighting with each other but when a staff member goes to intervene it all turns on them,' she said. The vast majority of passengers behave 'properly and respectfully' and are victims of the incidents too, she said. The fact that staff are highly trained to deal with such incidents means the Garda statistics fail to accurately reflect the scale of the issue of passenger disruptions. 'When the problem persists, though, it's very serious, the crew have to contain it because it's not like they can just open the door and throw the people out,' she said.
The Independent
20-05-2025
- The Independent
‘A plane full of English animals': Passenger describes horror flight to Ibiza as police intervene
An easyJet passenger has called for airlines to stop selling alcohol after a 'hell' flight from London to Ibiza last Friday. Ibiza resident Erika Barrachina shared a TikTok video of British travellers screaming and chanting 'come on Ibiza' in the cabin on Saturday (17 May). She captioned the footage: 'My trip yesterday London-Ibiza with easy jet was a real horror!! I was scared, a plane full of real English animals!!' According to Erika, during the almost two and a half hour flight from Luton, passengers prevented flight attendants from working by 'standing, screaming, kids hitting each other, drinking little bottles of alcohol one after the other'. The Spanish passenger said: 'This is unacceptable! They shouldn't let these people on the plane or sell alcohol on it!' Erika called flight EZY2307 a 'real hell' and claimed that the 'wild animals' onboard were taking 'pills and alcohol at the same time'. 'We don't want this type of tourism in Ibiza, they should stay at home!!', she added. The Airbus A320 from Luton was met by local police after landing in Ibiza at around 11.30pm. A spokesperson for easyJet said: 'Flight EZY2307 from Luton to Ibiza on 16th May was met by police on arrival due to a group of passengers behaving in a disruptive manner. 'easyJet's cabin crew are trained to assess all situations and to act quickly and appropriately to ensure that the safety of the flight and other passengers is not compromised at any time. 'Whilst such incidents are rare we take them very seriously and do not tolerate disruptive behaviour onboard. The safety and wellbeing of passengers and crew is always easyJet's highest priority.' The cabin chaos comes amid overtourism protests in Spain 's popular Canary Islands. Thousands of , demanding action from authorities to curb visitor numbers and protect residents from soaring housing costs and struggling infrastructure.
