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Home  >  Law In Travel  >  “Lucky” Airline Passenger Fined $17,000 For Good Luck Stunt
Law In Travel

“Lucky” Airline Passenger Fined $17,000 For Good Luck Stunt

Matthew Klint Posted onJanuary 3, 2020January 3, 2020 8 Comments

I feel very sorry for Lu Chao. An innocent act has landed him in a heap of trouble with a fine he claims he cannot pay.

Airline Passengers Fined For Tossing Coin Into Aircraft Engine

Last February, I wrote about the incident.

Lu was traveling on Lucky Air from Ningbo to Anqing. As he boarded his flight, he flung two one yuan coins toward the engine in hopes that it would bring “good luck” to the flight. Officials noticed the coins and cancelled the flight. A coin sucked into an aircraft can engine can severely damage the turbine and lead to engine failure. That could lead to a host of problems if it occurs in the air, including a crash…

Lucky Air, a subsidiary of the Hainan group, sued the passenger for the equivalent of $21,000. Lu also spent 10 days in prison over the incident.

Now a District Court decision in Anqing, handed down in July, has been made public. Lu has been ordered to pay 120,000 CNY (~$17,200) in restitution for his actions. Lucky claimed that amount included maintenance, rebooking, and lodging costs incurred due to the delay.

In his defense, Lu’s brother argued that Lucky Air failed to make an announcement stating that throwing coins was prohibited. It was 28-year-old Lu’s first flight and he had no idea the traditional Chinese act of tossing a coin as a sign of good luck was prohibited.

CONCLUSION

I don’t have the verbiage of the law in front of me, but generally ignorance of law is never an excuse for breaking it. There are “specific intent” exceptions, but I cannot imagine that applies to tossing coins into aircraft engines. I think the the $17K charge sounds about right…but my heart actually aches for Lu, who was probably so excited to board a plane for the first time. Perhaps he should consider a Kickstarter campaign…

image: Anna Zvereva / Wikimedia Commons

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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8 Comments

  1. James Reply
    January 3, 2020 at 8:06 am

    It is very interesting case. How much a culture can be considered a norm or even legal norm here? I don’t have the faintest idea how chinese law system works. We often read news of stupidity of chinese passenger. Opening doors or emergency exit just because he/she felt cramped or hot inside. But it maybe true that they simply didn’t know and stubborn.

    Very interesting… Too bad your article didn’t explore more on the legal side…

  2. Brian L. Reply
    January 3, 2020 at 8:38 am

    I don’t feel sorry for this guy, he’s a moron.

  3. Aztec Reply
    January 3, 2020 at 8:51 am

    Bad things happen to stupid people and worse, to those around them.

  4. Simon Reply
    January 3, 2020 at 9:29 am

    Wouldn’t it be GoFundMe or similar rather than kickstarter?

  5. Donald Reply
    January 3, 2020 at 10:36 am

    The correct phrase is “ignorantia juris non excusat” – literally “ignorance of the law excuses not”, it is the basic assumption that everyone knows the difference between right and wrong. It is also stated with “nemo censetur ignorare legem” – literally “nobody is felt/thought to be ignorant of the law”. Matthew – Is this the ‘verbiage’ that you were lucking for? Certainly ignorance is never a defence!

    • Matthew Reply
      January 3, 2020 at 11:05 am

      You are correct!

    • debit Reply
      January 3, 2020 at 11:16 am

      Except that is exactly the defense Republicans are forwarding: trump is too stupid and ignorant to have committed treason.

  6. Pingback: The Superstitious Stuff Passengers Do When Flying (Including Me) - Your Mileage May Vary

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