Due To Diverted Flights, This Man Was Sentenced To Pay Aircraft Fuel Fee Of IDR 89 Million

Illustration. (Unsplash/Suhyeon Choi)

JAKARTA - A problematic airline passenger was sentenced to unusual punishment, paying back fuel costs to airlines.

Australian Federal Police (AFP) said a 32-year-old man from Western Australia was disrupting flights from Perth to Sydney.

As a result, the plane had to turn around and return to Perth, meaning the pilot was forced to dispose of some of the fuel to land.

The incident ordered the passenger to pay back $5,806 to the airline to cover the cost of wasted fuel.

It didn't stop there, Perth's Court of Magistrat also fined him $ 6,055 (Rp93,317,843), meaning that his poor behavior in the air had a total of 11,861 US dollars (Rp182,798,173), possibly much higher than anything he spent on tickets.

"This incident should serve as a warning that the on-air criminal behavior could be fatal to the perpetrators," said Plt. Head of AFP Shona Davis in a statement, according to CNN Sept. 12.

"It is much easier to comply with airline staff's directives than to cause unnecessary problems, which can end in huge losses," he added.

Although the flight took place on September 25, 2023, it took about a year for the case against the disordered passenger to be processed through the Australian legal system.

Neither the man nor the airline was publicly named, nor did it say exactly what he had done, resulting in a very severe punishment.

The passenger pleaded guilty to one charge of disordered behavior on the plane and one charge of not complying with safety instructions.

While charging passengers a fuel fee that interferes with is not a general punishment, other types of fines are more common.

In 2021, the United States Federal Aviation Administration announced it would introduce a zero-tolerance policy for passengers who behave poorly on planes.

That year, passengers were fined for various incidents on planes across the United States, including one passenger who tried to enter the cockpit of the plane and had to be detained.

There are also passengers who punch flight attendants in the face, so they have to be hospitalized. The most serious cases of in-plane damage were also reported to the Department of Justice.

It is known that the highest individual fine of US$40,823 (Rp629,151,829) was imposed on passengers carrying their own alcohol on the plane, drunk, trying to smoke marijuana in the toilet, and sexually assaulting flight attendants, all on one flight.