A HOLIDAYMAKER has claimed to have helped stop a man from being deported from the United Kingdom whilst jetting off on her travels.
Hannah Gaffey was due to visit a pal in Jamaica last week and had arrived for her flight to the capital Kingston from London Gatwick Airport with British Airways (BA) on Thursday.
However, the flight raised doubts in Hannah’s mind after she noticed several unusual occurrences, including the flight not being available to view online.
Hannah’s suspicions were proven true as she claims a BA staff member admitted to her at the gate that a man was being deported back to Jamaica on the plane.
The Cambridge graduate says she was left upset at being unable to alter the destiny of the flight and began boarding with the rest of the passengers who were made aware of the situation.
Hannah says that the man was telling border force immigration workers to “get off me” and “you’re hurting me” whilst sat at the back of the plane.
She claims that passengers were refusing to take their seats as the plane couldn’t taxi until cabin crew threatened to kick them off the flight.
Staff were allegedly keen for passengers to settle down and stop discussing the situation as the plane began to taxi towards the runway.
As the flight continued to taxi, Hannah told how the pilot came over the loudspeaker to announce that the plane will be staying on the tarmac due to a disruption at the rear of the aircraft.
Hannah says she then turned to look at the man with his six-member immigration team with him and was delighted to see that he was no longer being restrained by them.
The kind-hearted holidaymaker waited ten more minutes before seeing the man being removed from the plane.
Hannah claims that the man thanked the passengers for their help before taking his leave from the plane and staying in the United Kingdom.
The entirety of Hannah’s remarkable plane exploits was shared on social media on Sunday with the caption: “On Friday 10 November the British Airways flight I was on was used to attempt a deportation to Kingston, Jamaica.”
The tweet received over 7,000 likes with thousands of comments from social media users who commended Hannah for her actions in aiding the man.
One said: “Thank you for doing this, it was incredibly brave. It may have saved his life.”
Another added: “Good on you Hannah.”
A third replied: “Amazing – well done and thank you for trying to help this man.”
Another commented: “Well done Hannah, you acted with great care and empathy. BA should not act as a police agency.”
British Airways have been involved in deportation flights for several years including to African and Caribbean destinations.
Many cabin crew in Unite the Union allege that British Airways is in fact the primary airline involved in deportation flights.
