Emmet Moynihan, 31, has been fined after admitting to verbally abusing staff while “clearly drunk” on a British Airways flight from Heathrow to Las Vegas for a stag do. The incident occurred on August 6, when Moynihan boarded the flight and was told it was delayed.
Altercation with crew
Moynihan, from Co Cork, tried to use the toilet and called it a “f****** joke” when asked to sit down, the court heard. Prosecutor Abigail Day told Uxbridge Magistrates Court that a passenger had noticed he smelled of alcohol and was clearly drunk during the altercation with the flight crew.
“Passengers then began filming him with their telephone and he was lunging towards passengers’ phones saying ‘stop f***** recording me’,” Ms Day said. The co-pilot eventually became involved in trying to get Moynihan to sit down.
Court appearance and sentence
Moynihan, of South Douglass Road, Cork, flew in from the Republic of Ireland for his court appearance on Wednesday, wearing a grey Levi’s hoodie. He pleaded guilty to entering an aircraft when drunk and failing to obey the lawful commands of a pilot. He was ordered to pay a £2,224 fine, an £890 surcharge and £85 in costs.
His lawyer, Paul Turnbull, said his client had “got past everyone” in his intoxicated state and was only up from his seat because he wanted to use the toilet. “The defendant was part of a group going to Las Vegas for a stag, there was an element of consumption in Cork and they had access to a lounge at Heathrow,” Mr Turnbull said.
Viral videos and magistrate’s remarks
Videos of the incident were circulated online and accrued more than six million views, according to Mr Turnbull. In sentencing, Magistrate Sandra Joseph said: “There is only one reason we were not going to send it to the crown court, and that is that the plane was still on the ground and therefore passengers could have been evacuated. However, had they been in the air this would be a completely different matter.”
