Man fined for 'starting water fight' on flight

Passenger asked cabin crew 'who the f*** are you to tell me what to do?' after being challenged over behaviour

A man was fined £1,200 for starting a water fight onboard (Simon Calder)

A male passenger has been fined £1,200 for rowdy behaviour that included throwing water at other passengers mid-way through a transatlantic flight.

John Maxwell, who was flying on a Tui flight from the Dominican Republic to Manchester airport in January this year, had to be restrained with onboard handcuffs when he threatened fellow passengers and cabin crew mid-flight.

Manchester Magistrates Court heard that Mr Maxwell shouted at a member of cabin crew: “Who the f*** are you to tell me what to do? F*** you,“ and threatened to hit him, reported the Manchester Evening News.

“At around 12.50am he started throwing water at surrounding passengers including children,” according to prosecutor Lisa Deakin.

The pilot considered making an emergency landing, but instead the decision was made to restrain him using the special onboard kit.

Mr Maxwell was arrested when the plane touched down in Manchester.

District Judge Scanlon said: “People save their money for a hard-earned break and what do they get? John Maxwell.

Addressing Mr Maxwell: “You’ve brought this entirely on yourself.“

Mr Maxwell has to pay the fine as well as £205 in costs.

A Tui spokesperson said: “We take a zero tolerance approach to disruptive behaviour on-board our flights. The safety and security of our customers and crew is always our number one priority and we’re grateful to our crew for the professional way they handled the situation.“

It’s not the first case of rowdy passengers onboard flights.

Last month, a man was filmed vomiting in the aisle on a Ryanair flight to Croatia, leading other passengers to call it the flight from “hell”.

In 2018, the Civil Aviation Authority recorded 370 incidents of disruptive behaviour on flights.