A flight due to depart Cardiff Airport was delayed for three hours after a sweary stag do party refused to get off the plane and staff thought too many passengers were onboard. Passengers headed for Bulgaria booed the seven revellers on the Tui flight while others watched on in horror as the group reportedly began swearing and wolf-whistling at cabin crew after they were told they couldn’t drink alcohol while on board the four-hour flight.
When the group reacted angrily to the crew passengers explained how security was called on board minutes before the flight was due to hit the runway at 1.45pm. Five of the group, including one who was dressed in a pilot costume, then agreed to get off the plane but two others continued being abusive and said they wouldn’t be getting off. Passengers told WalesOnline. One passenger said the pair began “squaring up” to the security staff.
Holidaymakers began shouting “throw them off” repeatedly before one of the remaining two men allegedly threatened security by telling them he used to be in the armed forces and knew how to operate a gun. Eventually all the men disembarked but the flight still didn't take off until 4.30pm on Thursday because Tui thought too many people were onboard the flight. It later emerged that there had been a head count discrepancy when the disruptive customers were offloaded, which meant all customers had to disembark and reboard.
One passenger explained they were “scared” over what happened and had thought people on the plane could be hurt in the incident. “Tui should not have let them on board the flight in the first place,” the woman said. “We heard the group in the terminal an hour before the flight and they were being extremely noisy. I was dreading getting on the plane to be honest.
“There were seven of them, and the groom was dressed as a pilot. They were all Welsh I’m ashamed to say. It was very unnerving, especially for the passengers in the rows around them.
"I want to highlight the consequences of drinking too much before a flight on the other passengers and also the stag party who never made it to Bulgaria. Incidentally I heard them say they were staying in Sunny Beach. We were thankful [they didn't make it to Sunny Beach] because we were booked in at the old town.
"Surely there is a duty of care in the airport bar when people are obviously flying and they keep serving them alcohol. It makes you think."
Recalling what caused the men to become so angry after boarding, a passenger recalled: “The stewardess told them as they boarded that they would not be served any alcohol during the flight and it didn’t go down well. They were noisy and used the F word continuously. Some passengers told them to curb their language but they just carried on.
“Another stewardess then approached them to warn them over their behaviour and they cheered her loudly and wolf-whistled her. They were making remarks to other female passengers too.”
After 15 minutes the pilot told the crew he would not fly the plane while the stag party was onboard and asked security to remove them. The passenger continued: “One of the men then said he was in the forces and had used a gun before. Eventually they did walk off while swearing loudly.”
Sadly for the passengers onboard the debacle was not over. Staff then did a head count of passengers which did not tally with their paperwork, those on board said. One passenger recalled: “After the stag incident we were all asked by Tui to give our names to the rep who came on to the plane to check the passenger list. We were then asked to disembark with our bags as they thought there was one passenger too many on the plane. We eventually left at 4.30pm.”
A spokeswoman for Tui said: "We would like to apologise to customers on board flight TOM6412 from Cardiff to Bulgaria yesterday for the delay in taking off. We can confirm that the flight was delayed due to disruptive passengers on board the flight. The safety and security of our customers and crew is always our highest priority, and we have a zero tolerance policy to disruptive behaviour on our flights. The customers involved were offloaded and the flight was able to continue its journey."
