A drunk passenger's tirade on a Jet2 flight led to the cancellation of the flight, affecting more than 300 people, according to WalesOnline. Jason Mulhern, 57, was handed an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, after his disruptive and drunken outbursts toward airline staff caused the cancellation. Jet2 has also said it will pursue a civil claim for £44,710, covering hotel costs and delays.
Ryanair's Call for Limits
This incident follows earlier calls from Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary, who said airports should either ban alcohol sales to passengers before early-morning flights or implement a two-drink limit. He argued the measure would reduce the number of disruptive passengers on board. O'Leary added that Ryanair was being forced to divert an average of nearly one flight per day due to drunken passengers' bad behaviour.
In an interview with The Times, O'Leary said: "It's becoming a real challenge for all airlines. I fail to understand why anybody in airport bars is serving people at five or six o'clock in the morning. Who needs to be drinking beer at that time?" Airside bars in the UK are not required to follow the same opening-hour restrictions that apply to other venues selling alcohol. O'Leary said: "There should be no alcohol served at airports outside (those) licensing hours."
Legal Consequences
Being drunk on a plane is a criminal offence and can be punished by a fine of up to £5,000 and two years' imprisonment. In response to such incidents, Ryanair announced in January last year that it had begun legal action to recover losses from disruptive passengers who forced a flight to divert. It said it filed legal proceedings against a passenger in Ireland to seek 15,000 euros (£12,500) in damages related to a flight from Dublin to Lanzarote.
In 2025, the Toulouse Criminal Court convicted two unruly passengers who disrupted flight FR9251 from London Stansted to Ibiza on 17 May 2025. As a result of their abusive behaviour towards fellow passengers and failure to comply with crew instructions, the flight was forced to divert to Toulouse, affecting over 184 passengers and 6 crew members. The disruptive passengers were found guilty; both received suspended sentences of up to 10 months, along with a combined penalty of over €10,000.
Wetherspoons Pushback
Ryanair's call for a limit on early morning drinking prompted a response from Wetherspoons, which operates pubs inside some of Britain's busiest airports. Sir Tim Martin, the Wetherspoon founder, claimed that a two-drink limit would be a "Big Brother" approach. He told The Times: "A two-drink limit would be extraordinarily difficult to implement, short of breathalysing passengers, and would, in our opinion, be an overreaction."
