A Jet2 flight to Tenerife was forced into an emergency landing after a drunk passenger allegedly peed in the cabin and frightened children onboard.
The budget airline has banned 55-year-old Eric Forrest from boarding its flights for the rest of his life over his alleged conduct, and is also threatening to sue him for costs, which the company says will likely reach a “five-figure sum”.
Jet2 accused Forrest of “being aggressive, illicitly consuming alcohol, intimidation towards other customers, suspected handling of illegal substances and urinating inside the cabin,” while on board.
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The April 13 flight, LS155 from Glasgow to Tenerife, was abruptly diverted to Faro, Portugal, where Forrest was hauled off by local police.
Data from Flightradar24 reveals that the flight, which normally takes around 4 hours and 21 minutes, landed in Faro an hour before it was meant to land in Tenerife.
On top of this, furious holidaymakers then had to disembark the aircraft so that it could be deep-cleaned by staff, adding a two hour delay to their journey.
This also meant that customers due to travel back to Glasgow from Tenerife had to spend another night in the Canary Islands because of the late arrival of the aircraft.
One passenger, who was on the same flight along with his wife and 15-year-old daughter, told the Daily Record that the 55-year-old was “already drunk” when he boarded the plane, and continued boozing on the flight.
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The passenger said: "I'm surprised he was allowed on the plane. He continued drinking on board and kept going to the toilet."
"About two and half hours into the flight, he started shouting and being disruptive on the plane. It was a nightmare – my daughter was quite upset and there were a lot of younger children on the plane who were really scared."
Jet2’s managing director Phil Ward said the airline will now "vigorously pursue" Forrest for the costs of the diversion, which includes hotel accommodation for customers and crew in Tenerife, airport charges, fuel costs, and cleaning costs.
He said: “Mr Forrest’s behaviour was absolutely disgraceful, and we would like to apologise to all of our customers on board and colleagues who have been impacted or affected.
“As a family friendly airline, we take a zero tolerance approach to such behaviour and we would like to thank the Portuguese authorities for their assistance in offloading Mr Forrest.”
The Sun tracked Forrest to his home in Beith, Scotland, where he apologised for his behaviour on the flight, claiming that while he was drunk, he did not urinate in the cabin.
Forrest said: ““I had far too much to drink. I didn’t urinate in the cabin. I poured out a bottle of vodka that I bought in duty free.
“They said I was endangering the aircraft, but I wasn’t. I was already drinking the vodka prior to that, but that’s why I poured it out because I couldn’t drink it.”
When informed that Jet2 would be pursuing him for the costs, Forrest said: “I’m not working, so I wouldn’t know how I’d be able to pay anything back.”
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- Jet2
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