A Ryanair flight was forced to alert authorities ahead of landing in Tenerife after several passengers became disruptive on board, including one person reportedly “urinating” in the aisle.
The incident occurred on flight FR3152 which departed from East Midlands Airport on Monday 4 November at 6.29am for the four-and-a-half hour flight to Tenerife South Airport.
After several passengers became disruptive onboard the flight, the crew made the decision to call ahead for police assistance once they landed.
It is unclear to what extent or how the passengers were being disruptive on the plane, yet a source told Travel and Tour World that one person ended up urinating on the floor in the middle of the aisle.
Ryanair told The Independent: “The crew of this flight from East Midlands to Tenerife (4 Nov) called ahead for police assistance after a small number of passengers became disruptive onboard.
“The aircraft was met by local police upon arrival at Tenerife Airport and these passengers were removed.
“This is now a matter for local police.”
The flight landed just before 11am local time, when the passengers would have been escorted off the aircraft by local authorities in Tenerife.
Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary told The Independent’s travel podcast in August that passenger disruption has soared on flights due to the high level of flight delays across the summer, together with a growing number of passengers taking drugs and drinking alcohol.
“We are seeing record numbers. We and most of the airlines around Europe are seeing a spike upwards, particularly this summer, of disgruntled passengers onboard,” the boss of Europe’s biggest budget airline said.
“I think the real challenge is: flight delays are up at a record high this summer, so people are spending time in airports drinking before they board aircraft.”
O’Leary also spoke on air rage causing issues on flights and disclosed at a news conference in London over the summer that Ryanair is probably dealing with at least one bad case of assault on a weekly basis.
Five or 10 years ago, he said, “it would have been almost zero” and called on airports to limit alcoholic drinks in the airport to two per person before boarding a flight.
Ryanair has seen several unruly passenger incidents this year, such as in September when a passenger had to be removed from a flight to Ibiza after hitting cabin crew and spitting on fellow passengers.
The Manchester flight to Ibiza had to be diverted to Toulouse after the violent outburst, with a witness claiming it started after a crew member tried to take off a duty-free bottle of vodka that he had been consuming throughout the flight.
Another incident happened in August on a Ryanair flight to Lanzarote after an intoxicated passenger started hurling insults at his girlfriend and punching the aircraft interior.
The Independent has contacted the local Tenerife police for comment.
