Tourists fined $1000 for ‘smoking, unruly behaviour’ on flight
The women admitted the offences after the court heard they failed to follow seat belt instructions and smoked e-cigarettes during the flight.
Monday 12 October 2026 | 16:00
Updated 12 October 2026 | 20:14 FJT
Ionela Christiana Lupasea, 32, and Virginia Verlan, 39, escorted by the police outside Nadi Magistrate Court on October 12, 2026.
Photo: Waisea Nasokia
Two Romanian nationals have been fined a total of $1,000 for unruly behaviour and smoking on board a Fiji Airways flight bound for Nadi.
Virginia Verlan, 39, and Ionela Christiana Lupasea, 32, both make-up artists, appeared before Magistrate Jeremaia Savou during a special court sitting at the Nadi Magistrate Court today.
They were each charged with one count of unruly behaviour and one count of smoking on board an aircraft.
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The court heard that the two women travelled from Romania via London before boarding the Fiji Airways flight from Singapore to Nadi on October 8.
Both were allegedly intoxicated during the flight and failed to follow flight attendants’ instructions to fasten their seat belts. The court also heard that they smoked e-cigarettes during the flight.
Both pleaded guilty and apologised for their actions, telling the court they would not repeat the behaviour.
They told the court that the flight to Fiji had been too long and that they were tourists.
In mitigation, both expressed remorse. Magistrate Savou considered their early guilty pleas and noted that they had been in police custody since last Friday.
They were warned not to reoffend while in Fiji.
The court ordered each woman to pay a $500 fine. Their e-cigarettes, which had been held by border police, were also ordered to be returned to them.
