Just Explain it: How much does a diverted flight cost?

While uncomfortable airline seats topped the list of TripAdvisor’s annual air travel survey this year, an even more cringe-worthy inconvenience seems to be hogging the headlines – unruly passengers and flight diversions.

In August, two CF-18 fighter jets escorted a Sunwing flight bound for Cuba back to Toronto’s Pearson International Airport after two twenty-year-olds got drunk and lit up a cigarette in the lavatory.

In 2013, Sunwing got hit with a $40,000 bill after a family from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia was busted puffing on cigarettes in the bathroom.

There’s always got to be a few daredevils out there willing to question why some planes still have ash trays in the lavatories next to the “do not tamper with the smoke alarm” stickers, right?

While only, 45 per cent of those surveyed were concerned with unpredictable flight delays – diversions can be an annoying and costly affair.

And they’re kind of common.

According to the International Air Transport Authority, between 2007 and 2013 there were more than 28,000 reported cases of unruly passenger incidents onboard aircrafts in flight.

In this episode of Just Explain It, Yahoo Canada Finance’s Ashleigh Patterson breaks down the cost of the bad seeds willing to test the stewardess’ patience and cause flight diversions.