Another day, another airplane evacuation.
The latest incident involves nine-you guessed it, drunk-passengers who started shouting "Allahu Akbar" while boarding a Ryanair flight from Brussels to Madrid on Saturday.
In case you've missed every single piece of coverage of terrorist activities in the past decade, "Allahu Akbar" means God is great and is often shouted (or at least allegedly shouted) before many an incident that has been defined as a terrorist act.
In this case, however, the act was not prompted by ISIS, but rather an apparent attempt at humor by passengers who had spent too much time at the airport bar. Other travelers didn't find the situation as funny, however, especially when the pilot refused to fly with the men on board, the bomb squad was called and the aircraft had to be evacuated.
According to the BBC, who called the expelled group "drunk jihadist jokers," one man in his 50s, who also reportedly shouted something about a bomb on board, was taken away by police and will likely be charged.
According to a spokesperson for the Brussels police, "The flight commander refused to take nine people. One of them made a crazy joke and started calling out 'Allahu Akbar.'"
The bomb squad cleared the airplane for service, but not before every single piece of checked baggage was re-inspected. When nothing suspicious turned up, the flight eventually departed at 9:25 a.m., local time, more than two hours late.
It's been a busy week for the Ryanair public relations team who also had to play defense after a drunk woman incited a brawl on a flight from Newcastle to Alicante last Thursday. According to The Mirror, two passengers-a woman and a man-were arguing when the woman threw a punch at them.
One passenger described the aggressor as "mortal drunk."
This flight was not delayed, but police were called and waiting for it upon arrival in Alicante.
"The crew of this flight from Newcastle to Alicante (August 31) requested police assistance upon arrival after a passenger became disruptive in flight," said Robin Kiely, head of communications for Ryanair.
[READMORE]READ MORE: Ryanair Thrives Despite Rough Year as Brexit Looms[/READMORE]
Both incidents follow another last Sunday when a group of male passengers forced an emergency landing of a Ryanair flight from the U.K. to Ibiza. The flight was diverted to Bordeaux, where it landed safely and was met by police, who were forced to subdue the rowdy men on the airport tarmac.
These are hardly the only times the terms Ryanair and drunk passengers have appeared together in a headline. Does anyone else remember earlier this summer when two drunk passengers had sex together in the main cabin in front of the entire airplane? And the list goes on.
It looks like drunk passengers doing stupid things is becoming a new normal for Ryanair.
Although "new" is probably not accurate. The airline has been trying to crack down on excessive alcohol consumption for at least two years.
In July of 2015, Ryanair banned passengers from bringing Duty-Free alcohol on board the flights. While this might have mitigated the problem somewhat, it clearly wasn't enough. Earlier this summer the airline called for stricter measures when it asked U.K. airports to restrict passengers to two beverages while waiting in the airport.
On the other hand, if you're willing to put up with watching live sex acts, enduring drunken shenanigans and facing the possible delay or emergency landing, Ryanair has just placed two million seats on sale during its "Flying Back to School" promotion. The sale, which ends Sunday night, offers intra-Europe fares starting from around $30 round trip.
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