Virgin passenger ordered to pay $60,000 for flight disruption

In July of last year I was flying Virgin, Perth to Sydney, as I was booked on a fashion shoot forRock Candy magazine. Unfortunately for myself and 80+ other passengers of that flight, the plane was forced to turn back and our itineraries disrupted due to a passenger who’d consumed alcohol and drugs before boarding and subsequently caused a ruckus.

I was sitting directly in front of Brenden James Tume, the 23-year-old dude in the midst of all this fuss, who yesterday was subsequently charged and fined nearly $60,000 in fines and court costs.

Here’s my version of how this fuss panned out, point by point:

01. Tume stumbles into his seat fairly visibly under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol.

02. He soon passes out with his head cocked back, but is causing no disruption to other passengers.

03. A Virgin stewardess goes up to him and asks if he is okay.

04. He’s disturbed – simply for having been disturbed – but the stewardess and several others after her insist on keeping him awake, saying they are concerned about his safety.

05. A stewardess offers him a breathing apparatus for fear of his passing out completely.

06. Now he’s getting really annoyed and begins to demand where his wallet is (he’d had it in his bag which needed to be stored in upstairs cargo since the plane was completely full including the overhead luggage compartments).

07. The stewardesses are still insisting that Tume stays awake and now he’s getting really angry; kicking the seat in front of him (mine) and mumbling what sounds like “Fuck off all of youz; I can bring this plane down.”

08. When finally left alone by the stewardesses, the passenger beside Tume suspiciously starts small-talk with him, presumably to (a) keep him awake, and (b) keep him preoccupied so that he doesn’t notice the plane is being turned around and landed back in Perth where federal police are waiting to board and arrest him.

09. The plane lands two-and-a-half hours after take-off, making some of us assume we’ve landed in Adelaide. As it turns out, the pilot had quietly turned the craft around and landed back from where we took off from.

10. Some 80 passengers have had their holidays and business plans disrupted. Non-locals are put up in hotels. Locals are told to go home and are not given clear instruction until much later on. Sure enough, Virgin suffers a significant financial loss from turning the flight around, including the cost of fuel and accommodation for some passengers. Meanwhile we’re left wondering if any justice would come of this.

And wouldn’t you know it, six months later and Tume has finally been charged; ordered to pay close to $60,000 in fines and reparations.
The Perth Magistrates Court heard yesterday that when Tume woke up, he was disoriented and could not find his wallet, repeatedly mumbling “Stop talking shit about me” to the stewardesses, adding “I’ll get you; I’ll cause a stir and bring this plane down.”

Well, at least he was true to his word, as foolish a word as it was.

Tume’s lawyer told the court of his client’s lack of consideration during the incident, but insisted this was not a reflection of his true character. As it turns out, he is a father of two, with a third child on the way, flies regularly between Perth and Sydney to work for his family’s removal business, and just happens to have been off his nut on this particular flight, ruining it for the rest of us.

If one other thing comes from this incident, hopefully it’s that drunken bogans – who are becoming a common sight on short-haul flights – will learn from Brenden Tume’s mistake, and leave the rest of us in peace on flights we’ve paid good money for.  Antonino Tati