A Jet2 flight from Manchester to Turkey was forced to divert to Vienna on Monday after an “out of control” woman started shouting and reportedly slapped a fellow passenger.
Travellers on flight LS895 said the woman had been “kicking off” before the plane had even left Manchester Airport, with some saying she was ranting about noisy babies on the flight.
The plane left Manchester shortly after 9am on Monday 21 March for the 4hr 30m flight to Antalya, Turkey, but was forced to divert two hours in, landing in Vienna at 11.38am.
A fellow passenger who did not want to be named told Manchester Evening News that the disruptive woman started making a fuss “about an hour and 20 minutes” into the flight, adding: “There was lots of noise.”
“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,” claimed the witness.
“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.”
The passenger alleges that the woman then slapped a fellow customer before the crew decided to divert 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.”
Other passengers reported that the woman had proceeded to slap a second passenger in the face before the plane was able to land and offload her.
“This is the first time we have had to land because of someone on a flight,” the eyewitness told reporters.
“Jet2 staff handled the whole situation very well. Nobody could help the out-of-control woman once she slapped the passenger.”
Jet2 yesterday sent customers a text message apologising for the situation.
It read: “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.”
A spokesperson told The Independent: “We can confirm that flight LS895 from Manchester to Antalya diverted to Vienna yesterday so that a disruptive passenger could be offloaded. As a family friendly airline, we take a zero tolerance approach to disruptive behaviour.”
