I don't want to look stupid in 2026!

After a superb holiday on an island paradise, I was sad to have to return and face the cold of Switzerland. I couldn't stand the attitude of some passengers during the flight, to the point where I insulted some of them... A stewardess calmed me down by claiming that I risked being arrested when I got off the plane in Switzerland. Fact or fiction?

Marc, Geneva

That's right, the Swiss authorities can indeed question a passenger on landing, even if his or her slip-ups took place in the air on board a foreign aircraft!

The Swiss Penal Code (SPC) applies according to a number of criteria that are not limited to Swiss territory. When it comes to offences committed on board an aircraft, several principles coexist: territoriality (if the offence takes place in Swiss airspace), the registration of the aircraft (the so-called «flag»), the nationality of the perpetrator or victim, and the international cooperation provided for in the Convention on Offences and Certain Acts Committed on Board Aircraft signed in Tokyo on 14 September 1963. This Convention establishes the primary jurisdiction of the State in which the aircraft is registered, but also provides for cases in which other States may intervene.

With the entry into force of the Additional Protocol to the Tokyo Convention, Switzerland has added another string to its bow and can also act as a so-called «landing State». Under this rule, as soon as an aircraft lands in a State party to the Convention with an unruly passenger on board who is suspected of causing a disturbance during the flight, the destination authorities can intervene, investigate and even try the case. This is precisely to ensure that reprehensible behaviour committed at an altitude of 10,000 metres does not go unpunished because no State would accept responsibility for it.

In your case, even if the airline you flew with was not Swiss and the incident took place in foreign skies, this would not have prevented the Swiss authorities from taking action: your behaviour could have justified an arrest as soon as you got off the plane.

So don't get carried away and remember your civic duty: instead of ruffling the feathers of your seat-mates or calling them names, take a deep breath, because even at altitude, turbulence can be costly once you're back on the ground...