Drunk passenger who wreaked havoc on TUI flight and forced it to land in Newcastle jailed

A drunk plane passenger who wreaked havoc on a TUI flight heading to Turkey has been jailed.

James Rae, 29, boarded the flight for Antalya at Glasgow but disrupted the flight with his drunken behaviour that saw him using foul language, using a homophobic slur towards staff and spilling a drink over a child. Newcastle Crown Court heard Rae's behaviour became so disruptive that the plane was forced to divert to Newcastle International Airport.

The court heard Rae, from Falkirk, Scotland, boarded the flight on May 24 this year with his partner and a crew member noticed he was "loud and jolly" but nothing of concern.

But passengers began to raise concern about the language coming from the area where Rae was seated, the court heard. A crew member spoke to Rae and asked him to lower his tone as the flight included children.

Judge Stephen Earl said Rae's partner wanted to move away from the defendant and was "visibly upset" by his actions.

The court heard crew were made aware Rae had began drinking alcohol including gin and Jager he had purchased in the duty free before boarding the flight.

Judge Earl said: "I have to say this is not the first time I have had to sentence someone for drunkenness in a public place in an airport or on an aircraft. It is something right thinking people might find odd that when we are so concerned with this issue we still serve alcohol in airports but we do.

"It relies on people to be grown up about it and not drink 15 pints an hour before the flight but some people do, but a lot of people do not do that.

"The reality in this case is, in fact, the member of staff speaks to you and took a bottle of gin you had drunk."

The court heard a partially drunk bottle of Jager was taken as well.

Judge Earl said: "Not only were you drinking, you were prepared to mix the drinks, gin, Jager and whatever was in the plastic bottle you had and was taken.

"You didn't get the message. The memo came out 'Stop drinking' but you didn't get it. You continued to drink - that is not a grown up action in a risky scenario such as an aircraft.

"You were approached by the cabin manager and asked to hand over your passport so they could identify you. It was explained to you that your actions were unacceptable and you were given a warning."

The court heard Rae became more intimidating and refused to hand over the passport. He also called a cabin member a "g*y boy" and believed he was being picked on because he was "straight", the court was told.

The court heard as a result of Rae's actions it was decided the plane would need to be diverted to Newcastle. The court was told another plane and crew had to be found and people in Antalya waiting to come home from their holidays were affected.

Judge Earl said: "Lots of people were affected because you chose to drink and to drink to excess and become abusive and generally non-cooperative with staff."

The court was told as the plane came in to land Rae began banging his head off the seat in front and another passenger had to protect the passenger in front.

Judge Earl added: "We also know you managed to spill a drink on a young girl who was sitting on a seat in front of you, so again, not only were there children on the plane you were involving them in your actions.

"All of this is risky behaviour. It landed about one hour and 40 minutes after taking off from Glasgow."

The court heard there was video of Rae being uncooperative during his arrest and was so drunk he was "almost" unable to get off the aircraft unaided.

Judge Earl added: "In relation to this matter we talked about the effects of cabin crew having to be replaced, people having to come out to work that weren't expecting to come out, people who were expecting to come home unable to get home, the accommodation of people who weren't supposed to be accommodated. All of this is at a vast cost and it doesn't take into account the cost of the lives of the people you interrupted because you couldn't not have a drink."

In mitigation the court heard Rae's action had been recorded by passengers and was "trending" on social media.

Judge Earl said: "You talked about the fact you are a social media pariah that is a cause and effect of your own in the modern world."

The court was told Rae had not drank since the incident and was "remorseful" and "embarrassed" by his actions. The court was told Rae found it difficult to deal with his face being "plastered all over the internet".

Rae pleaded to being drunk on an aircraft and was sentenced to eight months in prison.

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