A plane travelling to Turkey from Manchester Airport had to be diverted to Vienna this morning after a passenger became disruptive and was said to have slapped other passengers during the flight.
The Jet2 flight to Antalya left Manchester at around 9.15am on Monday morning (March 21). It had been due to arrive in Turkey almost four and a half hours later.
However, following an incident involving a ‘disruptive’ passenger onboard, the flight had to land at Vienna almost two and a half hours into the flight at around 11.40am. It then set off again for Antalya at 1pm, before arriving shortly after 3pm.
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One passenger onboard the plane told the Manchester Evening News that a female passenger became disruptive ‘about an hour and 20 minutes’ into the flight. “There was lots of noise,” the passenger, who asked not to be identified, said:
“Then she came to the front of the plane. She was really angry towards Jet2 staff and wouldn’t calm down. Her voice was getting louder and more aggressive - she was shouting in people’s faces.
“People were saying she was kicking off at the airport before she even got on the plane. Then some people said it was over babies crying on the flight.
“A customer said something and she slapped him in the face. Then a man got up to try and calm the situation before taking her to the back of the plane.”
The passenger said that staff then made the decision to divert the flight to Vienna. As the plane landed, the woman was said to have slapped another passenger as she was getting off.
“This is the first time we have had to land because of someone on a flight,” the passenger added. “Jet2 staff handled the whole situation very well. Nobody could help the out-of-control woman once she slapped the passenger.”
Jet2 sent a text message to passengers onboard the flight just before 12pm, apologising for the incident. The message said: "Hello, we are sorry that due to the disruptive behaviour of a fellow passenger, your flight has been diverted to Vienna. We are working on a situation to get you on your way as soon as possible."
The flight left Vienna at 1pm before arriving at Antalya just after 3pm - one hour and 15 minutes later than scheduled. Manchester Airport declined to comment on the situation, saying it was a matter for the airline to comment on.
In a statement, Jet2 confirmed the incident. The flight operator also confirmed that the flight successfully continued onto Antalya once the passenger had been offloaded.
A Jet2 spokesperson told the M.E.N: “We can confirm that flight LS895 from Manchester to Antalya diverted to Vienna earlier today so that a disruptive passenger could be offloaded. As a family friendly airline, we take a zero tolerance approach to disruptive behaviour.”
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