A flight from Glasgow destination Ibiza had to make an unscheduled landing at Toulouse in Southern France when a passenger first became aggressive and was then sick all over the cabin.
But the cleaning up operation was not on a TUI Thompson aircraft as holiday company TUI or Thomson had by chance, chartered an ASL Airlines France plane to fly holidaymakers out to the Balearic island!
Unhappily for the French cabin crew just 120 minutes into the flight, a row erupted with a British passenger reportedly drunk and abusive, leaving the French captain no option but to make an emergency landing.
The ASL Boeing 737 safely landed in Toulouse and the male passenger arrested by a waiting posse of French police. The deplaned passenger possibly faces a fine of up to 5,000 euros, plus any lifelong sanctions airlines may care to impose.
Recent changes in UK legislation, may also see the UK authorities, take further legal action against the suspect on his/her return to the UK.
After a short delay the aircraft departed from Toulouse and arrived late in Ibiza yesterday evening, The Daily Record reported.
Meanwhile a spokesman for TUI, who is seemingly oblivious to the increasingly disruptive behaviour of a certain section of the travelling public, who may also endanger the operation of an aircraft, put out a 'calming' press statement:
'We would like to apologise for the inconvenience to our customers on flight FPO 809T from Glasgow to Ibiza operated by a partner airline, which diverted to Toulouse as a result of a disruptive passenger.
'Passenger and crew safety is our priority at all times therefore we, along with our partner airlines, operate a zero tolerance policy to any behaviour of this kind.
'We appreciate the patience and understanding of customers affected by the diversion and we can confirm the flight has now landed in Ibiza.
'We would like to reassure them that incidents of this nature are extremely rare
Julian Bray comments: Sadly the Thompson TUI spokesman is very out of touch, disruptive passengers are not as he suggests, a rare occurrence, this blog alone has reported countless incidents where endangered aircraft have been needlessly diverted and passengers arrested, then to appear in local courts. Indeed the sanctions for such behaviour are very severe, as this extract from the CAA website explains:
CAA: Refusal to carry passengers
Airlines have a right to refuse to carry passengers that they consider to be a potential risk to the safety of the aircraft, its crew or its passengers.
Reasons will typically include if the passenger:
- is drunk or under the influence of drugs.
- has refused to allow a security check to be carried out on them or their baggage.
- has not obeyed the instructions of ground staff or a member of the crew of the aircraft relating to safety or security.
- has used threatening, abusive or insulting words towards ground staff, another passenger or a member of the crew of the aircraft.
- has behaved in a threatening, abusive, insulting or disorderly way towards a member of ground staff or a member of the crew of the aircraft.
- has deliberately interfered with the performance by a member of the crew of the aircraft of their duties.
- has put the safety of either the aircraft or any person in it in danger.
Unacceptable behaviour on board
Passengers must not do certain things while on board including:- Endangering the safety of an aircraft
- Being drunk in an aircraft
- Smoking
- Disobeying a lawful command from the commander of an aircraft, and
- Acting in a disruptive manner (including interfering with the work of a member of the cabin crew).
- Making the passenger leave the aircraft; possibly under police escort
- Refusing to carry the passenger on the remaining sectors of the journey shown on their ticket, and
- Reporting the incident on board the aircraft to the relevant authorities with a view to them prosecuting for any criminal offences that may have been committed.
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