Passengers on a flight from Bristol Airport to Malaga have told of the scenes on the runway after the pilot aborted the take off because as many as 30 drunken passengers were being disruptive.
Police were called to the departure gate to meet the easyJet flight after the pilot stopped the plane as it was about to take off and returned to the terminal, because a large group of young men were refusing to sit down and demanding to use the toilet during take-off.
The flight to the Spanish resort was already delayed by an hour in the terminal, and passengers then had to wait another hour or so while the ejected passengers were made to retrieve their bags from the plane and were escorted back to the terminal by police. One passenger said when the door shut and the last of the large group left the plane, the remaining passengers all spontaneously cheered.
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EasyJet said they were taking the incident ‘very seriously’, and they do ‘not tolerate abusive or threatening behaviour on board’. One passenger told Bristol Live that the large group of young men were already being loud and disruptive before they even boarded the plane.
“The flight was delayed by an hour while we were still waiting in the departure lounge, and clearly that just gave these lads another hour’s drinking time,” said Linda Sweeden, who was returning home to southern Spain from a visit to Bristol. “They were being loud at the gate, but luckily I was sat at the back of the plane and they were at the front. There were loads of them, apart from the front row for the elderly and disabled people, they took up maybe six or seven rows at the front of the plane, there were at least 30 of them,” she said.
Problems started becoming serious when the plane began taxiing to the runway to begin its take-off. “Everyone was seated ready to depart, we’d had the safety briefing and the plane was moving round to the end of the runway to take off, and then suddenly one of the men at the front stood up.
“A steward asked him to sit down and he started shouting, so loud we could hear at the back: ‘If you don’t let me go to the toilet I’m going to p*** all over the floor!’” said Linda. “Then another one stood up and said he wanted to go too, then another, and very quickly about five or six of them were standing up, in the aisle, arguing with the stewards, who were telling them to sit down.
“I don’t know if the stewards pressed some kind of button but suddenly, the plane stopped, the engines stopped and suddenly they were all standing up arguing. It must’ve been really frightening for the elderly and disabled people in the very front row, and the stewards handled it really well,” she added.
The plane began moving again, returning to the departure gate. “The stewards ordered off about five or six of these men, but I don’t know what happened but all of them stood up and got off,” she added. “When the door closed behind them, there was this big cheer of relief from everyone else, and the captain announced that we would be delayed a little bit longer but would be on our way soon.
“He even joked that there were loads of seats free near the front if anyone wanted an upgrade,” she added.
Passengers on the plane then watched as baggage crews were called out. They had to get everyone’s bags off the plane, and the ejected group had to go through and reclaim their bags again, before the rest of the luggage was put back on the plane.
“While we were waiting for all this, ironically, people were allowed to go to the loo – they allowed families with children to go first and then everyone could. We’d been waiting for around an hour more there,” added Linda.
The plane took off and eventually arrived in Malaga around two hours after the original scheduled arrival time.
A spokesperson for easyJet confirmed they were taking the incident seriously. “easyJet can confirm that flight EZY7004 from Bristol to Malaga on May 11 returned to stand due to some passengers behaving disruptively. The aircraft was met by police and the passengers were offloaded before the flight continued to Malaga.
“Our cabin crew are trained to assess 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,” he added.
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