British holiday airline Jet2 is joining forces with Ryanair in calling for greater regulation on the sale of alcohol at airports prior to flights after one of its aircraft diverted because of a 'rowdy' stag party.
A Jet2 flight heading to Ibiza from Birmingham on Friday had to divert to Toulouse in France because of the 'appalling and aggressive' behaviour by members of the stag party. Jet2's management said the group have been repeatedly warned by the cabin crew, yet they continued to behave in an “appalling and aggressive” manner, leaving the crew no choice other than to divert to Toulouse and offload the offending passengers.
Jet2 claimed the cabin crew decided to suspend sales of alcohol on the flight after one member of the stag party group was refused boarding for being “drunk and aggressive”. Yet other passengers on the flight dispute that and say cabin crew initially served the stag group drinks. Jet2 say despite one of the party being left behind, the rest of them continued to act in a “deplorable and aggressive” fashion after the aircraft took off, despite the packed holiday jet being filled with families, many with young children.
Phil Ward, Jet2's MD, said: “A large number of individuals from this group have left a stag weekend in ruins, and have subjected our crew and customers to a continued pattern of disgraceful and aggressive behaviour. This left some of our highly-trained cabin crew extremely upset, and the captain had no choice but to divert the aircraft so police could offload the group.
“Fellow customers and families travelling for a well-earned holiday should not be subjected to this behaviour and we will now be taking further action in support of our crew to ensure those responsible are held accountable for their actions. This is the second time that disruptive passenger behaviour has caused one of our flights to be diverted in just a few weeks, so enough is enough.
The airline boss continued: “Proper measures need putting in place by the industry and government to ensure that our crew and customers can fly in a safe, trouble-free environment. As a family-friendly airline flying millions of people on holiday every year, we are demanding that proper action is taken to protect our crew and customers from this appalling behaviour.”
As Jet2's latest advertising campaign to coincide with its sponsorship of the reality TV show Love Island seems to be targeting stang and hen parties including shots of them attempting to break holding rails on a transfer coach, it is hardly surprising that more stang and hen groups are travelling with the airline.
As Jet2's latest advertising campaign to coincide with its sponsorship of the reality TV show Love Island seems to be targeting stang and hen parties including shots of them attempting to break holding rails on a transfer coach, it is hardly surprising that more stang and hen groups are travelling with the airline.
Whilst Ryanair and Jet2 want to stop airports from selling alcohol to people before a flight, they both wish to continue to sell the same people alcohol once onboard the flight.
