The Irish airline Ryanair announced this Wednesday that it will take legal action against a passenger who had to be evicted from a Lanzarote-Santiago de Compostela flight on January 17 after pretending to be a diplomat and staging an altercation that delayed the take-off.
In a statement, Ryanair explains that this passenger occupied a seat that did not correspond to him, refused to change to his seat when the crew asked him to do so and was "verbally aggressive", even claiming that he was a "UN diplomat" and had "immunity".
A spokesman for the Las Palmas Command has confirmed to EFE that account of events: the passenger was not a diplomat, disturbed the peace on board the plane and was evicted by the agents for that reason at the request of the aircraft commander.
As La Voz already published last January, the incident caused a delay of 40 minutes and 137 travelers suffered "unnecessary inconvenience", the airline emphasizes, which appeals to its "strict zero tolerance policy towards passenger misconduct".
"It is unacceptable for passengers, many of whom are traveling on vacation with their families, to suffer unnecessary delays due to the behavior of an unruly passenger. Unfortunately, this happened on the Lanzarote to Santiago flight in January," says Ryanair.
The Irish company warns that the criminal action it has launched against that passenger for what happened could result in a prison sentence of three to twelve months, in addition to a fine.
"We hope that this example will serve to prevent harmful behavior on Ryanair flights, so that both passengers and crew can travel in a comfortable and respectful environment, as is their right," he adds.
