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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Ella Bennett & Matthew Dresch

Family finds plane seats 'covered in vomit' but cabin crew still expect them to sit there

A family were left disgusted after discovering sick on their flight seats, although the airline insists they were in the wrong seats.

Justine Nagaur, 52, said staff had covered the vomit with a blanket and still expected the family to sit there on their flight to Turkey, MyLondon reports.

The mum claims her son only realised the grim state of his seat when he picked up a blanket on the floor and discovered it was "wet" with sick.

When Justine complained to the cabin crew, she said one of them replied "it’s just like you need to complain for the sake of it".

Corendon Airlines admitted staff covered the sick with a blanket but said the family were actually sat in the wrong seats.

The haunting experience took place when Justine and her husband Michael Nagaur flew from London Stansted Airport to Antalya with their two sons Zachary and Joshua.

Justine Nagaur pictured with her husband Michael and their two sons Zachary and Joshua (Justine Nagaur)

The family flew out with Corendon Airlines on August 11 for what was their first holiday abroad together in three years.

Like many they had been unable to travel due to the Covid pandemic and had spent around £2,500 on return flights.

What should have been the exciting start to an amazing trip was ruined when Zachary and Joshua discovered the state of their seats.

Mum Justine told MyLondon: "We were all squished trying to find our seat and put our bags up. [I] didn’t notice it immediately just when the boys sat down and started turning around saying 'ew'."

Justine said a Corendon Airlines flight attendant was rude to her when she complained (NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Justine recalled how her son couldn't see it was sick initially but was confused by a blanket on the floor of his seat. He said he picked it up and it found that it was "wet and had vomit on".

When Justine notified the staff on the plane of the disgusting discovery she claims that the staff were "rude" about it.

Speaking on one man she said: “And not only that they were rude about it. His attitude was 'why do you need to move'. The attendant said 'it’s just like you need to complain for the sake of it'.”

The family couldn't understand why the vomit wasn't cleaned up as most would assume a plane is cleaned between flights.

Justine said: "They said they knew about it but weren’t going to stop the plane because of the vomit and their company policy is that they don't have a contract with a cleaner so the plane doesn’t get cleaned."

The family are dreading flying back to Britain with Corendon Airlines (NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Justine said: "It was a fiasco. It was the fact when you feel like your [sic] in a surreal situation, when you feel an extreme reaction to something but people you’re meant to have a sense of trust are not only rude but completely apathetic about the whole situation.

"You start thinking 'is it me, am I being too fussy' and [then] think 'no this is really really disgusting'. It was the whole service. I was thinking my god we've just been through such strict regulations in the pandemic and I'm sat in a plane pumping whatever was in that vomit around the entire plane."

She added: "Even pre-Covid you wouldn't expect that situation. Planes are meant to be cleaned in-between."

Justine claims that staff expected her sons to sit in the seats for the duration of the four-hour flight, so they had to argue for the right to be moved to a clean seat.

She said her boys had to sit on the seats with their legs up not touching the floor for around 30 minutes before they found them somewhere else to wait, and then eventually another seat.

She added: "My oldest is over six foot and had to squish his legs up. [I] said can you not find somewhere for them to wait but no."

For Justine and her family it wasn't just that the seats were covered in sick, but also the "rude" service and a lack of an apology. She said it was "unreal" and added: "[I] have never experienced an attendant so rude."

The family will have to use the airline again when they return to the UK at the end of their holiday, which has left Justine feeling "a bit anxious".

Tuğba Güner, marketing manager for Corendon Airlines, said: "The video was shot at Corendon Airlines flight on 11.08.2022 from London Stansted Airport to Antalya.

"The dirtiness on the floor of these rows was caused by a passenger in the previous flight.

"Between the two flights, our cabin crew decided to get a deep cleaning service from the handling company at Stansted Airport for this problem.

"However, the deep cleaning would take two hours, therefore they decided to solve the problem themselves in order to continue the next flight within the scheduled timeframe which is in line with our company policy."

Mrs Güner noted concerns about airlines recently struggling to deliver services "in a timely manner" due to operational issues.

"Since there were empty seats available in the flight, the cabin crew made a decision to make a quick cleaning by themselves, relocate the passengers to be sitting at affected rows to other available seats and postpone proper cleaning to be performed after next flight," Mrs Güner added.

"They also covered the dirt with a blanket to avoid discomfort of passengers.

"The blanket and also the empty seats can be seen in the video as well.

"We would like to note that, the passengers mentioned in the article have booked the seats numbered 15D, 15E, 16C and 16D prior to their flight by themselves and they were seated on the seats they have booked.

"However, the dirty seats mentioned in the article are the seats numbered 14 D-E-F.

"We deeply regret to be subject of such unpleasant news and would like to emphasise our commitment to passenger safety and comfort."

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