'Notoriously rowdy' Ryanair flight draws booze ban

Ben Mutzabaugh | USA TODAY

Ryanair is telling customers that they can't bring booze of any kind onto its fights between Glasgow, Scotland, and the Spanish party resort of Ibiza. The route is the only one in the European discounter's large route network to get saddled with such a restriction. The ban includes duty free purchases.

The Record of Glasgow says the route has become a "notoriously rowdy" one for Ryanair that's earned a "reputation for its boozed-up passengers."

Ryanair began emailing Glasgow customers this weekend to inform them of the new policy, the Daily Record reports.

"Customers will not be allowed to carry alcohol on board and all cabin baggage will be searched at boarding gates," Ryanair told customers about its twice-weekly Glasgow-to-Ibiza flights.

"Any alcohol purchased in airport shops or elsewhere must be packed in a suitable item of baggage, which will be tagged and placed in the aircraft hold free of charge," Ryanair continued in its email. "Customers attempting to conceal alcohol will be denied travel without refund or compensation."

Scottish media note there have been numerous incidents on the Glasgow-to-Ibiza route in recent years.

Among the most extreme appears to be a case in 2013, when one of Ryanair's Glasgow-to-Ibiza flights diverted to an airport near Paris "after a group of fourteen drunk passengers began causing trouble and had to be removed from the aircraft," the Glasgow Evening Times writes. The Daily Mail of London adds those fliers "were so inebriated they thought they had landed in Ibiza."

Ryanair tells the Evening Times it made the decision to keep fliers from bringing booze onboard after conferring with airport officials.

"The comfort and safety of our customers and crew is our number one priority and we will not tolerate unruly behavior at any time," a Ryanair spokesman says to the newspaper.

While Ryanair moved to stop fliers from bringing their own booze on board, it was not immediately clear if Ryanair would suspend its sale of alcohol in its cabin on those flights. At the very least, the ban presumably would help attendants "cut off" fliers who show signs off excessive drunkenness.