A passenger heading to a Las Vegas stag party has been fined after admitting to verbally abusing flight crew while "clearly drunk" when told not to use the toilet.
Emmet Moynihan, 31, "smelled of alcohol" as he boarded a British Airways flight from Heathrow to the American city on 6 August.
Upon being informed that departure was delayed, the Co Cork resident attempted to use the toilet, called the situation a "f****** joke" and "verbally abused staff" when instructed to sit down, the court heard.
Moynihan flew in from Cork, in the Republic of Ireland, for his appearance at Uxbridge Magistrates Court on Wednesday wearing a grey Levi’s hoodie.
He was fined £2,224 after pleading guilty to entering an aircraft while drunk and failing to obey the lawful commands of a pilot.
Video footage of the confrontation was shared online and gathered more than six million views, defence lawyer Paul Turnbull said.
Prosecutor Abigail Day told the court that "a passenger had also noticed that he smelled of alcohol and was clearly drunk" during the row with cabin crew.
Ms Day said: "Passengers then began filming him with their telephone and he was lunging towards passengers’ phones saying ‘stop f***** recording me’."
She noted that the co-pilot eventually became involved in an effort to get Moynihan back into his seat.
Mr Turnbull explained that his client had "got past everyone" in his intoxicated state, arguing that he had only left his seat because "he wanted to use the toilet".
He said: "The defendant was part of a group going to Las Vegas for a stag, there was an element of consumption in Cork and they had access to a lounge at Heathrow."
Moynihan, of South Douglass Road, Cork, admitted both charges and was ordered to pay a £2,224 fine, an £890 surcharge and £85 in costs.
In sentencing, Magistrate Sandra Joseph said: "There is only one reason we were not going to send it to the crown court, and that is that the plane was still on the ground and therefore passengers could have been evacuated.
"However, had they been in the air this would be a completely different matter."
