An unruly woman who forced a packed holiday jet to make an unscheduled landing is set to be hit with a £15,000 bill.
The woman, believed to be in her late 40s, was traveling with her family on a flight where eyewitnesses noted she had been drinking heavily during most of the journey.
Trouble flared two hours after the Wizz Air flight took off from Gatwick to the Red Sea resort of Hurghada last Wednesday afternoon.
The woman swapped seats with another passenger on the plane and then became unruly, swearing to flight crew who had asked her to calm down.
Halfway through the five-hour flight, the pilot decided to make an unscheduled stop, diverting the A321 aircraft to Athens airport in Greece. Upon landing, local police officers were there to meet the plane.
Video footage obtained by MailOnline shows three officers marching the passenger off the plane while other holiday makers clap and cheer.
Subsequently, Wizz Air is exploring options to recover the additional expenses resulting from the diversion. These costs include extra fuel, staff hours, accommodation expenses, and the disruption to the flight schedule. The airline is considering legal action to address these financial losses.
It follows on from an announcement in January when low-cost carrier Ryanair said it would be suing an unruly passenger who caused a Dublin to Lanzarote flight to make an unscheduled stop in Portugal last April.
It is thought a replacement plane and crew had to make the return trip to Gatwick and the flight back was delayed 24 hours as a result of the delay, incurring further costs.
When asked what possible action Wizz Air would take, a spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘It would involve filing legal proceedings against the passenger seeking damages owing to the substantial disruption it caused to other passengers, our crew and Wizz Air’s operations more generally.’
An earlier statement said: ‘We can confirm that a passenger aboard our W9 5777 London Gatwick – Hurghada flight on the 12th of March had to be removed from the flight due to inappropriate behaviour towards our crew.
‘This passenger’s inexcusable conduct forced this flight to divert to Athens where it was delayed for a short time before going on to the destination.
‘The safety and security of our passengers and crew is our number one priority. Wizz Air has a strict policy against harassment and passenger misconduct and will continue to take a zero-tolerance approach to ensure the safety and security of everyone aboard our flights.
‘It is completely unacceptable that passengers who work hard to enjoy a trip away are negatively impacted due to one passenger’s failure to behave.’
An airline source said: ‘These stops due to unruly passengers are getting more and more frequent and people need to know the consequences of their actions.
‘Unscheduled stops cost money, and they also cause disruption to passengers and to crew and plane rostering, it’s not right that airlines and passengers should suffer.’
In a statement on Friday, Greek police told MailOnline: ‘On Wednesday March 12, a British national passenger under the influence of alcohol, and with a child, was causing problems on a flight.
‘An emergency landing was made after the captain was informed and she was arrested for obstruction. She was taken to the prosecutor’s office and has now been released. No further detail will be forthcoming.’
Passenger Micheal Hands, 58, who was onboard with his girlfriend Catherine Roberts, told MailOnline: ‘It was absolute bedlam, I’ve never seen anything like it.
‘This woman had clearly been drinking all flight and maybe the crew shouldn’t have carried on serving her as it probably led to her kicking off.
‘She was sitting behind me and then she moved seat, but she wasn’t happy and started arguing with the cabin crew.
‘By this point we were two hours into the flight and somewhere over Greece.
‘To be fair to the crew they did their best but in the end it just got too much and the captain came on the tannoy and said: ‘If the unruly passenger doesn’t return to hers eat in two minutes we are making an emergency landing’.
‘Of course, there was some booing and jeering at the woman, but nothing happened and in the end, we landed at Athens and the police came onboard and took her off – much to everyone’s delight.’
Flight tracking apps show flight W95777 taking off 20 minutes late from Gatwick at 14.26 on Wednesday afternoon with a scheduled arrival of 21.25 local after a five-hour flight.
Around two and a half hours later just as the flight crosses into Greek airspace it carries on southwards towards Egypt before making a U-turn and heading back towards Athens.
After a two-hour delay on the ground while the woman is dealt with the plane then takes off and lands at Hurghada just over two hours later than scheduled.
One holidaymaker is heard to shout: ‘Too late to cry now,’ as the woman is escorted off the plane.
While another shouts: ‘Sorry, doesn’t really cut it,’ as she is taken down the aisle and the woman replies: ‘Shut your mouth.’
In another clip after the woman is taken off the captain is heard announcing the plane to thanks passengers for ‘their understanding’ adding they will ‘hopefully get them to the right destination as quickly as possible’.
Sources at Wizz Air said the costs incurred included seven visas for the crew of the plane who had to remain in Egypt overnight because of hours worked, plus their accommodation.
While 100 rooms, as well as meals had to be found for passengers who were waiting to catch the return flight to Gatwick which eventually took off the next day.
A source said:’ ‘All in all this could prove to be very costly for the passenger concerned, it’s not right passengers and the airline should foot the bill for someone’s misbehaviour.’
* Do you know the woman passenger? E-mail [email protected].
