Ten British men on a stag do, wearing wigs, were removed from an EasyJet flight to Tenerife by police after allegedly smuggling alcohol on board, abusing air hostesses, and shouting homophobic slurs throughout the journey, it has been alleged.
The group, consisting of at least 10 men, was flying from Luton to the Spanish island on Wednesday before they were apprehended at the Tenerife airport.
Several flight passengers were left outraged at the men’s behaviour as they dubbed the four-and-a-half journey the “flight from hell”.
Duncan Young, 56, a passenger on board the flight told The Independent that the captain was aware two parties were taking place on the plane.
He said: “(The captain) welcomed them with a warning to ‘behave themselves’ and respect other passengers.”
However, the group was reportedly already intoxicated, according to other passengers.
Mr Young added: “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 enraged passenger said the captain issued another warning to the noisy passengers about an hour later, stating that the plane might have to be diverted due to their behaviour.
He added: “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 occurred between the stewards and the captain to determine how to handle the escalating situation on board.
The rowdy passengers had their passports confiscated, but this only worsened matters as they allegedly began hurling homophobic insults at the flight crew.
Upon landing, holidaymakers were instructed to keep their seat belts fastened and remain seated while authorities boarded the plane. The police then removed at least 10 passengers from the flight.
Mr Young continued: “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.”
He praised the actions of EasyJet staff, adding that he had seen stag dos on flights before, but that he had “never seen anything like this in my life”.
An EasyJet spokesman told the outlet one of its flights to Tenerife on Wednesday was met by police on arrival due to a group of passengers behaving disruptively onboard.
He said: “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.”
Express.co.uk has reached out to EasyJet for comment.
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