UK airline bills unruly passenger $106,000 for ‘dangerous behaviour’

Jet2, a British budget airline and tour operator, said it had demanded a passenger pay about $106,000 after her behaviour aboard a flight to Turkey last month prompted military jets to escort the plane back to an airport near London. The evening flight from Stansted Airport, north of London, to Dalaman, a coastal town in southwestern Turkey, was cut short on June 22 after a 25-year-old passenger, Chloe Haines of Maidenhead, England, “displayed a catalog of aggressive, abusive, and dangerous behavior,” the airline said Tuesday. Her erratic conduct, which included attempting to open the plane doors during the flight, “was one of the most serious cases of disruptive passenger behavior that we have experienced,” Steve Heapy, the airline’s CE, said in the statement. Two Typhoon fighter jets from the Royal Air Force were called to escort the aircraft back to Stansted Airport, Jet2 said. “She must now face up to the consequences of her actions, and we will vigorously pursue to recover the costs that we incurred,” Heapy said. In addition to the fine, Haines has also been banned for life from the airline. Sarah Stewart, an aviation lawyer in London, said that there had been a sharp increase in disruptive behavior on planes. From 2007 to 2015, there were over 49,000 reported cases of “unruly passenger incidents onboard aircraft in flight,” she said Thursday.<br/>