Man dragged off TUI flight after ‘assaulting staff and refusing to give up gin bottle’
A ‘drunken’ man had to be dragged off a TUI flight after allegedly assaulting a cabin crew member and refusing to hand over a bottle of gin.
The man was on flightTOM778 from Glasgow to Antalya in Turkey which set off at 5.15pm on Friday.
A passenger said he was already drunk when he came onboard with his partner and became verbally abusive when asked to surrender his alcohol.
He is also said to have assaulted an air steward.
Less than an hour after take-off, it was announced the flight was diverting to Newcastle Airport, where police removed the man from the plane.
Video footage shows him being dragged off by officers as frustrated passengers look on.
Holidaymakers reached Antalya more than five hours later than planned.
A passenger said: ‘They were seen drunk while boarding the plane. He refused to surrender his own bottle of gin and became verbally abusive.”
‘An announcement was made 45 minutes after take-off that we were diverting with reason of unruly passenger. It took a further 45 minutes before we arrived at Newcastle, at around 7pm.
‘Two police officers boarded the plane and handcuffed him but he became unsettled so two more officers came on board. His partner was also removed from the plane to a chorus of boos as she gave everyone the middle finger.
‘There were further delays in removing his bags from the hold. Cabin crew were replaced due to the serious event and exceeding hours.
‘The plane was also refuelled having burnt off excess to allow safe emergency landing.’
The passenger said they spent around five hours waiting on the tarmac and described the whole incident as ‘clearly distressing for the children on board and frustrating for all’.
They added: ‘The captain visited every passenger personally in the aftermath to answer questions.
‘While a scenario crew were prepared for, there was slow information in whether we would proceed or disembark at Newcastle. They couldn’t let us off the plane due to border control issues.”
‘It was very costly and disruptive to 200 people on board. TUI were very professional and appreciative of the patience of all.’
The airline offered each passenger a holiday voucher in compensation.
A TUI spokesperson said: ‘We’d like to apologise to customers on TOM778 from Glasgow to Antalya, who were required to divert to Newcastle due to a disruptive passenger on board the flight.
‘Our goal is to ensure customers have the best possible flight experience, so this is not the way we wanted their holiday to start.
‘The safety of our customers and crew is our number one priority and any unacceptable behaviour will not be tolerated. The customer involved was offloaded from the aircraft and the flight was able to continue its journey.
‘We have offered customers a gesture of goodwill in light of this disruption to the start of their holiday and to thank them for their patience and understanding.
‘The flight departed Newcastle for Antalya at 22.50, Friday 24 May.’
Northumbria Police have been contacted for comment.
In January this year, a holidaymaker was put into a headlock and marched off a Ryanair flight by police after his yobbish behaviour forced the plane to make an emergency landing in Portugal.
The passenger, thought to be British, was dragged off the plane by around a dozen Portuguese police officers as other passengers watched in astonishment.
The following month two men on another Ryanair flight, this time flying from Edinburgh to Tenerife, started punching and spitting at each other.
Then, within days of that incident, children were left in tears after a drunken fight broke out on a third Ryanair flight, also from Edinburgh to Tenerife.
The flight made an emergency landing in Porto, Portugal, where police escorted some passengers off the plane before it continued its journey to Tenerife.
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