A British stag do party were removed from a “flight from hell” to Tenerife after it was alleged they drunkenly abused air hostesses.
The group, made up of at least ten men some dressed in wigs, loudly shouted on the easyJet flight that they were “going for it”, passengers said.
Those on board the flight claimed the group had smuggled alcohol and board and nearly brought female air stewards to tears after they refused to hand over bottles.
Duncan Young, 56, a passenger on the 4-and-a-half hour flight told The Independent it was the “flight from hell”.
He said: “The captain was aware of two stag parties on board and welcomed them with a warning to ‘behave themselves’ and respect other passengers.
“But they were already intoxicated. My wife and I were sitting in the front seats by the head steward on board and we could hear that the group of lads had smuggled alcohol on board and were ‘going for it’ in a big way.
“The captain came on again after about an hour and warned the passengers that due to the behaviour of some passengers, the plane may have to be diverted.
“The chaos continued with the group swearing, taking photos of the crew and physically stopping them from taking away their alcohol and then two women stewards came down to the front of the plane. They were close to tears and visibly upset by it all.
“Another meeting happened with all the stewards and the captain to decide what to do and the passports were taken off the passengers. Unfortunately this didn’t calm them down and then homophobia kicked in aimed at the crew.
“We landed and were told not to undo our belts but to remain where we were as the authorities were boarding the plane. They duly did and police hauled at least 10 passengers off the flight.
“The head steward gave over the lad’s passports and said ‘I want the book thrown at them’. The captain came out and apologised to us all but we were all relieved to simply have made it to Tenerife.”
Praising the actions of easyJet staff, Mr Young added: “I’ve seen it all before, and been part of many stag do’s, but I’ve never seen anything like this in my life.”
An easyJet spokesman told The Independent one of its flights to Tenerife on Wednesday was met by police on arrival due to a group of passengers behaving disruptively onboard.
He added: “EasyJet’s cabin crew are trained to assess and evaluate all situations and to act quickly and appropriately to ensure that the safety of the flight and other passengers is not compromised at any time.
“Whilst such incidents are rare we take them very seriously and do not tolerate abusive or threatening behaviour onboard.
“The safety and wellbeing of passengers and crew is always easyJet’s priority.”
In recent months, thousands of people have taken to the streets in popular Spanish holiday destinations to protest against mass tourism.
Anger has grown on islands such as Tenerife and Mallorca over a boom in short-term holiday rentals and hotel construction that is driving up housing costs for locals.
The Independent has contacted the Guarda Civil, Spain’s law enforcement agency responsible for airport security, for comment.
