Here’s How Much It Will Cost You To Divert A Transatlantic Flight

By: Ben Schlappig

Published: April 29, 2015

21 comments

An American man was being disruptive on a Norwegian Air flight from London Gatwick to Fort Lauderdale, which caused the flight to be diverted to Shannon. What did he do? Per the Irish Examiner:

The Norwegian Air flight had been in the air for 40 minutes when cabin crew were alerted to smoke in one of the lavatories. An e-cigarette was allegedly taken from Bochner and he was returned to his seat.

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Around 20 minutes later Bochner became abusive and attempted to hit one of the male cabin crew members before he was restrained and handcuffed with the help of some passengers.

Garda Walsh said the defendant was very aggressive when he disembarked around 6.15pm last evening and he smelled of alcohol. However, she acknowledged he was a totally different man this morning.

Defence solicitor Stiofan Fitzpatrick said the incident was extremely unfortunate and there was no rhyme nor reason to explaining his client’s actions. He said his client was returning to America after visiting his girlfriend in London and had taken drink to help him sleep on the long flight.

Mr Fitzpatrick said the 28-year-old has no recollection of the incident and is anxious to return to the United States as he is the sole carer for his elderly grandparents.

He was charged with threatening and abusive behavior, being intoxicated, and failing to obey directions from cabin crew. The diversion allegedly cost Norwegian €100,000. How much did the court force him to pay? Amazingly enough, only €1,000!

Perhaps this opens up a new kind of throwaway ticketing. Rather than throwing away a segment of a trip, throw away part of a flight. Just make sure traveling to that destination would cost at least €1,000 more than what you book, and make sure you time your tantrum properly. 😉

Bottom line

That seems like an awfully small punishment for such a major diversion. I was always under the impression that diverting a flight for non-medical reasons left the passenger much more liable than this.

Norwegian-787

(Tip of the hat to No Name)

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MHA Guest

June 8, 2015, 12:25 pm

Considering the situations we've heard of where the crew overreacts and diverts seemingly for little or no reason, putting the passenger on the hook for a substantial portion of the airline's supposed cost seems unnecessarily draconian. Was this guy violent and unrestrainable? Did they need to get on the ground RIGHT AWAY to protect the other passengers? Doesn't sound like it, once he was restrained. I also agree with some of the comments above that suggest we're only hearing part of the story. Was there SMOKE? Did he become belligerent 20 minutes later unprovoked, or was "one of the male cabin crew members" giving him shit? You can say this passenger's behavior ultimately racked up a considerable cost, but expecting him to pay that cost out of pocket is unrealistic.

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Son of 2 Seniors New Member

May 7, 2015, 4:47 pm

€1000 is ridiculously little. So what are the rights of the passengers who were inconvenienced. Using one of the scenarios laid out by @Michael Kelly, could a passenger going to visit his sick parent who subsequently passes away sue the disruptive passenger for pain and suffering. I'm assuming that some lawyer has already thought of this scenario (this flight was US bound after all). Any insights?

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No Name Guest

April 30, 2015, 11:49 am

Seems a big part of the cost came from missing their landing slots. Seriously a liter of gin? From Herald.ie Garda Walsh said the Captain "had to dump 20 tonnes of fuel at a cost of €20,000". She said the fuel had to be replaced at a further cost of €20,000. "The airline lost its landing slots in the US and its returning slots at Gatwick which costs them €60,000," she added. Solicitor Stiofan Fitzpatrick said Mr Bochner was on his way back home to the States after visiting his girlfriend in London. "He had planned to take alcohol and go to sleep, as it was a long haul flight. He bought a litre of gin and he placed it into a Coke bottle," Mr Fitzpatrick said.

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No Name Guest

April 30, 2015, 11:30 am

@John Tarik They did fly around and dumped fuel, question is how much? Max landing weight is 380,000 lb, max takeoff 502,500 lb. Max fuel is 33,340 US gal, fuel price at Gatwick is hovering around 1.70 USD/gal for Jet Fuel. Landing fees at Shannon? Perhaps extra cost from landing later in than planned in the US? Overtime for airport staff, US custom and immigration etc since the flight land late in the day even when it's on route? Extra fuel burn from Shannon to US and from US to Europe if they flew at max speed instead of cruising speed to make up time? Covering food and drink for delayed passengers in the US? (Not something Norwegian is good at from what I hear) It all adds up

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John Tarik Guest

April 30, 2015, 5:43 am

EUR 100,000 loss? Did you do any journalism 101 and try to verify the veracity of this number? Merthinks is a made up number and you're doing a disservice by repeating this with our pt basic verification.

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