Drunken men on a stag do caused a three hour delay for other holidaymakers when they began swearing and wolf whistling at cabin crew when they were refused booze. The flight from Cardiff to Bulgaria on Thursday was hit by trouble, WalesOnline reported.
Airline TUI has apologised at the disruption which left other passengers fuming - and said security had to be called to kick them off the plane. The flight had been due to leave at 1.45pm - but when the group of seven were refused alcohol it all kicked off.
Security staff were called after five of them were asked to leave and two refused to go, according to other travellers. One man ‘squared up’ to security staff, witnesses said, and other passengers started booing the troublemakers, and chanted ‘throw them off’.
One passenger said: “Tui should not have let them on board the flight in the first place. 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. 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.”
Another passenger added: “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. 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.”
Another factor which delayed the flight was that staff were trying to do headcounts as there were concerns that too many passengers were on board.
One passenger added: “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.”
