When you hear about violence in the air, the story is usually attached to younger or, at most, middle aged passengers. This time? Not so much, when an elderly woman was caught on camera slapping a flight attendant after he apparently removed a gin and tonic from her hands.
The incident occurred on a Jet2 plane flying from Manchester, England to Rhodes, Greece.
According to reports, the problem began when a woman who appeared to be in her 70s repeatedly asked the flight attendant for free champagne. Jet2 is a low-cost carrier and when told each time they don’t offer that sort of service, the woman became hostile.
She eventually asked for a gin and tonic instead, which the flight attendant served her. However the elderly woman continued to escalate, so the flight attendant removed said drink.
Video taken from this point shows the male flight attendant leaning over a row of seats while trying to calm the woman down. However, her body language suggested his attempts didn’t work very well. She stood up, arms flailing and smacked him in the head. To this, he and another flight attendant began to try to restrain her.
The flight was then diverted to Munich Airport, where the woman was said to have been escorted off the plane by nine police officers. The plane continued on to Greece about 2 hours later.
A spokesperson for Jet2 issued an apology to the other passengers who were inconvenienced by the incident:
“We can confirm that flight LS819 from Manchester to Rhodes was diverted to Munich Airport yesterday so that a disruptive passenger could be offloaded. We would like to apologise to customers for this unforeseen delay and any inconvenience caused,” the spokesperson said.
They continued: “The health and safety 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 vigorously pursue any costs incurred as a result of this diversion.”
Feature Image (cropped): Image by stockking on Freepik
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