TWO plane passengers have documented their “journey from hell” after the plane that they were travelling on had to be diverted in Portugal and they were kept ‘captive’ for more than six hours.
Aaron Scott and Camille Jacob were flying on a Jet2 flight from Gran Canaria to Newcastle Airport on Sunday (May 15) – when the route was forced to land in Porto in Portugal after two passengers on the same flight started to become "disruptive."
Flight number LS542, which had taken off at 9.30pm, had been scheduled to arrive at Newcastle at around 2am, but everything didn’t go to plan.
Read more: Jet2 flight to Newcastle diverts to Portugal because of 'disruptive passenger'
From the start, the plane was initially delayed by two hours, but this was the least of Aaron and Camille’s problems.
As soon as they boarded the flight, it was evident that the two men sat behind them were reportedly drunk, arguing, and challenging staff members on the Jet2 flight.
After the flight took off, the situation did not improve, and was intensified when one of the drunk passengers spat his drink into the face of another passenger sat to the side of him – with staff calling that the “final straw” and ordering for the flight to be diverted.
Mr Scott, who is from the North East, told The Northern Echo: “From the start, there was no Jet2 staff in the terminal building checking passengers. If there had been, I’m not sure whether they would have been allowed to get on the plane.
“It was obvious that they’d had too much to drink, and they were swigging from massive duty-free bottles. They were arguing amongst themselves, and as soon as they bothered other passengers and the staff, the plane was diverted.”
Once grounded in Porto at 2am the next day, passengers on the Jet2 flight were ushered off, and forced to stay in a ‘holding area’ for the next three and a half hours, where they had no access to water, food, and only had one toilet between them.
Despite the ‘uncomfortable’ nature of their surroundings, Aaron and Camille said that the worst element was the non-existent communication from Jet2 during their three and a half hours there – describing the scene as a “nightmare” and “psychological torture”.
For the three and a half hours they were, women and children were forced to sleep on the floor, with all the passengers finally allowed out of Porto airport at 5.30am, where they were transported to a hotel paid for by Jet2.
“We had no clue about what was going to be happening – there was no messages from Jet2. We were treated awfully and just stuck in a holding area for several hours,” added Mr Scott.
After staying in the hotel, the pair were picked up at 5.30pm on the Monday (May 16) and transported to the hotel. They ended up arriving in Newcastle at midday yesterday (May 17).
Still, both Aaron and Camille haven’t heard anything from Jet2 – except for a “welcome home” message from the company.
The whole experience has put them off travelling Jet2 – and even flying on any flight provider.
Mr Scott added: “If it wasn’t for the staff at Porto airport, we’d probably not be home now. Jet2 has not sent anything over – no apology, nothing.
“We got a £15 meal voucher at Porto Airport, but it was from the airport and not Jet2.
In response to the pair's "nightmare" experience, Jet2 has apologised, but have maintained that, due to the company not flying to or from Porto, this is why they didn't have a presence when communicating to passenger when they arrived in Portugal.
A spokesperson for Jet2 said: "We would like to apologise to any customers impacted by this diversion, which was caused by the unacceptable behaviour of a disruptive passenger.
"As we do not operate from Porto, this means that our award-winning colleagues are not present at the airport to provide our high levels of customer care.
"However our teams worked very hard to ensure that all customers were provided with hotel accommodation as well as food and drink.
"Disruptive passenger behaviour, although rare, is completely unacceptable and as a family friendly airline we will not hesitate to take action to recover our losses."
Keep up to date with all the latest news on our website, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
You can also follow our dedicated County Durham Facebook page for all the latest in the area by clicking here.
For all the top news updates from right across the region straight to your inbox, sign up to our newsletter here.
Have you got a story for us? Contact our newsdesk on newsdesk@nne.co.uk or contact 01325 505054
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel