Last November Hawaiian Airlines’ flight from Honolulu to New York was interrupted by an drunken, unruly passenger. The disruption was so bad that the aircraft had to turn around and land again in the Aloha State.
James August, a New Jersey resident and the unruly passenger in question, was sentenced to 3 months probation by a Federal Court after. Additionally, he has to pay $97,817 in damages to Hawaiian Airlines. Congratulations! Looks like you’ll be taking out a second mortgage.
Mr. August actually pleaded guilty to all the charges in February. The report stated that he was accused of threatening other passengers and the crew, as well as his own family!
The huge penalty represents the costs incurred by Hawaiian airlines due to returning the jet to Honolulu. Costs include maintenance and refueling, as well as finding a new flight crew since the original one would obviously time out. Hawaiian Airlines rebooked some passengers on other flights, incurring even more costs to themselves. The restitution does not include the nearly $47,000 worth of meal vouchers the airline handed out.
Hopefully Mr. August will be a bit wiser next time he is in paradise. If he has any money left over after paying the fine.
Featured image courtesy of Dylan Ashe under CC 2.0 license.
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
There’s always More to the Story™, but based on the words reported, no sympathy for the stupid. Especially a disruptive out-of-towner.
This is what should have happened to the guy who refused to deplane the United flight and had to be dragged off. And also the no fly list- I dont want to be on a plane with either of those two.
Given this, maybe the standard compensation for a properly ticketed, checked-in, at the gate on time for boarding passenger, who then is involuntarily bumped, should be $97,000. That might get the airlines’ attention and finally put an end to excessive overbooking. They’ve squeezed the rows so tight in full fare standard coach that a 6-foot person has zero legroom. Maybe the fix for that is several lawsuits after people suffer DVT. Oh, and the folks in first class also are being affected by fewer meal choices, no hot meal, no desserts, depending on the published time in the air for a given flight.