United passenger gets $10K fine for urinating in seat mid-flight after mixing Xanax and alcohol
He put the “U” in United.A United Airlines passenger mixed Xanax with alcohol to calm his nerves on a Newark-bound flight — but instead ended up losing his cool and peeing in his seat and aisle.Zachary Greear, 34, was slapped with a $10,000 fine for doing No.1 on United Flight 71 from Amsterdam on Monday, forcing the captain to dump more than $30,000 worth of fuel to divert the plane to Dublin, The Guardian reported.Greear, an American climate analyst, offered the Dublin district court his “most sincere apology,” adding that he was “horrified and embarrassed” by his actions.
The plane had been airborne for about two hours when police said Greear began acting “unruly,” disrupting passengers near him and urinating all over his seat and in the aisle.When Ireland’s national police got on board, officials said Greear was so intoxicated that he “couldn’t understand where he was.” Greear was arrested and pleaded guilty to intoxication, threatening, abusive or insulting behavior, and causing annoyance onboard an aircraft, all offenses under Ireland’s Air Navigation and Transport Act. Judge Michéle Finan slammed Greear’s actions as “appalling” and horrifying to the 153 passengers aboard the plane and its 13 crew members.
“Can you imagine the fear and trauma he caused to a pilot who is trying to manage people safely on his aircraft, to passengers, to employees of the airline who have to dump fuel and turn around a flight and land in a jurisdiction they never expected to be in?” the judge asked at Monday’s hearing.Despite the outrageous behavior, Finan noticed Greear’s lack of criminal record, apology and commitment to donating $5,000 to charitable causes.
The court ordered Greear to match his donations to help pay the damages to United, effectively fining him 10,000 euros, or about $10,308.United Airlines told The Post that Greear was removed from the plane without further incident, with the flight departing from Dublin later...