A Cork man has been fined after he drunkenly abused British Airways cabin crew during a mid-flight row that ended with him lunging at other passengers who tried to record the incident.
Emmet Moynihan appeared before a UK court where the full details of the chaotic scenes on board the flight were laid out. The trouble started when Moynihan got into a dispute over access to the toilet, which quickly spiralled out of control as his behaviour became increasingly aggressive.
Cabin crew bore the brunt of his abuse as they tried to manage the situation, but things got worse when other passengers on the flight pulled out their phones to record what was happening. Moynihan reacted badly to being filmed, lunging towards those passengers in an attempt to stop them capturing the incident.
The court heard how the incident caused serious disruption on board and left crew members shaken. Airline staff are trained to deal with difficult passengers but the level of aggression shown by Moynihan made the situation particularly challenging at 30,000 feet with nowhere to go.
Moynihan was fined following the hearing. Cases like this are taken seriously by UK courts given the safety risks that disruptive passenger behaviour poses to everyone on board a flight. Interfering with or abusing crew members is a criminal offence and airlines have been pushing for tougher consequences for passengers who cause trouble in the air.
The incident is another example of alcohol-fuelled behaviour causing major problems on commercial flights, something that airlines and aviation authorities across Europe have been raising concerns about for years.