Ryanair Fight Diverted After Passenger Eats Passport — Social Media Users Weigh In

A Ryanair flight was diverted and made an emergency landing after a passenger ate the pages from his passport while on the airplane. The flight originated in Milan, Italy, and was headed to London, England, when the passenger ate the pages from his passport, and another tried to destroy his passport in the bathroom, causing the plane to make an emergency landing at Paris Beauvais Airport, per WKRC News.

The first passenger reportedly began to act erratically 15 minutes into the flight.

"Something very strange happened at the front of the plane." said a witness to the Daily Star. "Staff were notified and went to see what was going on at the front of the plane. Suddenly the whole mood changed. No one onboard knew what was going on, these people were acting weird."

The Ryanair flight made an emergency landing at the Paris airport after the man ripped the pages out of his passport and began to eat them, and another man traveling with him also tried to destroy his passport during the flight.

As one man ate his passport pages, another man went to the lavatory and attempted to flush his passport down the toilet. The mayhem caused other passengers on the flight to "freak out" as they wondered why the men were acting so strangely.

"Essentially, the flight took off, and 15-20 mins into the flight, once the seatbelt sign was off, something very strange happened at the front of the plane," reported The New York Post.

After the second man tried to destroy his passport in the airplane's bathroom, a flight attendant banged on the door and begged him to open the door, but he reportedly refused to do so, which led to "more tension."

“The air hostess then made a public announcement that was so blunt and to the point,” said a witness. "That freaked people out to another level."

At that point, the pilot decided to divert the aircraft and make an emergency landing in Paris, which one passenger said was "the most terrifying 15 minutes of my life."

Once the flight landed, the French police entered the aircraft and arrested the two men. They also reportedly conducted a baggage search on the airplane, which took about two hours.

“I think Ryanair was brilliant in handling it in a certain way," said the witness. "They gave out drinks towards the end of the flight as we were coming in over Stansted. ... I’m just really f--king glad I landed."

Social media users were shocked by the incident and commented on the passport mayhem, and surprisingly, one Reddit user said that people often try to destroy their passports during flights.

"Having worked in an airport for many years. This really isn't that uncommon," they wrote. "I remember an Iranian man who ate his passport in front of me. Huge amounts get flushed as well."

The comment left another to ask, "Why would someone do this?"

Another user responded that the reason to destroy their passport was usually for a person to "gain entry into a country" and remove their identification so they can't be deported. However, it is unconfirmed as to why the men on the Ryanair flight destroyed their passports.