Jet2 flight from UK to Turkey diverted to offload disruptive “drunk” woman who was allegedly threatening staff

A JET2 flight heading from the UK to Turkey had to be diverted over the weekend to offload a disruptive “drunk woman” who was allegedly threatening staff.

Almost 200 holidaymakers flying on the 16:15 Manchester to Bodrum flight on Saturday ended up having their trip shortened due to the diversion to Vienna, Austria.

The pilot was forced to make the decision to divert the plane after a woman allegedly had far too much to drink and was causing chaos on the flight.

Holidaymakers onboard didn’t end up arriving at their destination until the early hours of the next morning due to the passenger’s behaviour.

Passengers on another flight leaving from Bodrum were also delayed as a knock-on effect from the incident and were sent a text informing them of the reason.

The text read: “We’re sorry that your flight has been delayed due to a disruptive passenger on your inbound aircraft, resulting in a diversion to Vienna.”

Jet2 customers were fuming about the incident and took to social media to vent.

Angela Murphy, a passenger who was delayed in Manchester during the ordeal, wrote on Facebook on Sunday: “Thanks to the passenger who was removed from the Manchester to Bodrum yesterday, the plane was diverted to land in Vienna due to their disruptive behaviour.”

A passenger on the flight, Christopher Sanderson, said: “Finally got here (Bodrum) at 3am this morning, after taking a detour and landing at Vienna airport first due to some stupid pi**ed up woman threatening Jet2 staff on the plane.

“She got arrested at Vienna airport making us late in Bodrum, stupid cow.”

Scores of social media users also commented on the incident, with many believing drinking alcohol onboard should be banned altogether.

One said: “There obviously needs to be tougher consequences as it’s so unfair and scary for everyone else including the crew.

“You have to ask if they were drunk at the gate, why were they allowed on and if they were ok until mid flight, then they shouldn’t have been served any more.

“You can usually tell when people have had enough before they get to that stage.”

Sue Wilson wrote: “You get them drinking their own duty free a lot of the time even though they are told not to.”

A third commented: “We had a woman blind drunk, abusive, attacking people, refusing to sit…walking around when landing.

“I absolutely thought she’d be deported back to the UK when we arrived in Tenerife last November.

“She was escorted off by police when we arrived with Jet2. Her travel companion, a man, did nothing to stop her and didn’t seem to want to get involved, don’t think they were partners as such .

“However after all this disgusting behaviour, she was actually on my daughter’s flight going home.

“We had a fortnight and she’d gone for a week.

“So Jet2 had actually let her have her holiday and travel back on their flight. I just thought wow, how bad does it have to get then.”

While one person added: “It’s a judgement call that most of us would hate to make.

“If you decide to deny boarding to passengers, their luggage must also be removed from the flight.

“This could take some time, and in doing so an ATC slot may be missed, resulting in a delay to that flight and a knock-on effect on the flight and crew schedules which causes chaos for the airlines.

“Something does need to be done but it’s not as simple as it seems.”

A spokesperson for Jet2 today said: “We can confirm that flight LS983 from Manchester to Bodrum diverted to Vienna Airport on Saturday 1 October, so that a disruptive passenger could be offloaded.

“We would like to apologise to customers for this unforeseen delay and any inconvenience caused.

“The safety and well-being of our colleagues and customers remains our number one priority and, as a family friendly airline, we take a zero-tolerance approach to disruptive behaviour.

“We will not hesitate to take action to vigorously recover any losses we incurred as a result of this appalling behaviour.”

The incident follows months of disruptive behaviour from a number of holidaymakers aboard flights this year.

Last month a flight from Manchester to Tenerife was diverted after a man became unruly with staff and allegedly urinated on his seat.

And in August, an OAP passenger aboard a Jet2 flight from Manchester to Rhodes was filmed appearing to slap a member of cabin crew after allegedly drinking too much and having her G&T removed.