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Two passengers have been banned for life by UK-based holiday airline Jet2 after sparking a chaotic midair brawl on a flight from Turkey to Manchester. According to reports, the pair had been drinking and making offensive remarks to fellow passengers before the situation became violent.
The flight would ultimately end up diverting to Brussels, where the two men were arrested by police. According to Jet2, the duo will never fly with the airline again, and also face a potentially costly bill to cover the flight’s diversion costs.
Jet2 Flight Diverts After Mass Onboard Brawl
On Thursday, Jet2 Flight LS896 from Antalya International Airport (AYT) to Manchester Airport (MAN) was forced to divert to Brussels Airport (BRU) after a fight broke out onboard. The flight took off from Antalya at 06:27 PM local time — approximately 45 minutes later than its scheduled 17:45 departure time — before the decision to divert was made roughly three hours into the flight. The flight landed in Brussels and the two disruptive passengers were taken into custody before the flight took off again for Manchester, eventually arriving at 09:35 PM at a delay of around two hours.
The brawl itself was captured on video and shared widely on social media, showing several passengers involved in a loud and chaotic altercation. It isn’t clear which two passengers from the video were arrested, but reports indicate that these two individuals were responsible for sparking the brawl after upsetting fellow passengers and crew with their drunken and disrespectful antics. According to a NY Post report, one of the passengers was heard making racist remarks before becoming belligerent with a flight attendant after being refused a cigarette purchase. In a statement made to Simple Flying, Jet2 condemned the “appalling behavior” of the two individuals, adding,
“As a family-friendly airline, we take a zero-tolerance approach to disruptive passenger behavior, and we are very sorry that other customers and our colleagues onboard had to experience this too.”
What Punishment Will Unruly Duo Face?
The two passengers face the prospect of legal charges after being arrested in Brussels, as well as the possibility of hefty financial penalties. Violent behavior onboard a commercial flight is treated severely, particularly the threat posed to the overall safety of the flight and its hundreds of occupants.
The cost of diverting a flight can run into the tens of thousands of dollars (or more in some instances), and airlines have been getting tough on pursuing reimbursement from unruly passengers who have diverted flights.
Jet2 has confirmed that it will “vigorously pursue” the two in an effort to recoup these costs. Although the duo has been banned from ever flying again with Jet2, this does not constitute an industry-wide no-fly ban, so they will still be able to book flights with other airlines.
2024 Saw A Rise In Unruly Passenger Incidents
Last year, airlines were forced to contend with more unruly passengers.
How Airlines Are Tackling Disruptive Passengers
With a sharp rise in unruly passenger incidents over the last few years (particularly during the mask-mandate era of flying), the industry has enforced stricter rules to tackle such incidents. Jet2 itself has a strong track record of pursuing further action against unruly passengers.
For example, in 2022, the carrier banned two brothers for life and sent them a $70,000 (£50,000) bill for diversion-related costs after they became violent onboard a flight. To give an idea of the kind of disruption diversions like this cause, Jet2 said the diversion caused its crew to time out, meaning the flight couldn’t take off again until the next day, resulting in the airline fronting hotel and food costs for over 200 passengers and crew.
There are also the added fuel costs, which typically run into the tens of thousands of dollars, and airport fees, among other costs. By pursuing these costs from passengers, airlines hope to send out a strong message to future passengers who think they can get away with bad behavior on flights.
