By New York Post (World News) | Created at 2025-01-01 02:30:07 | Updated at 2025-01-04 00:17:47
2 days ago
EasyJet passengers on a flight from Turkey to London were left fearing for their lives after an unruly teenager threw a temper tantrum and attempted to open an emergency door while they were tens of thousands of feet in the air — with one traveler calling the fiasco a “flight from hell.”
The passenger — a 16-year-old girl traveling with her mother and grandmother — reportedly went berserk after a 10-year-old seated next to her had a coughing fit, according to the Sun.
“The little girl went to the toilet, but the older girl followed her,” a 39-year-old passenger named Nadine told the outlet.
The EasyJet flight was going from Turkey to London when it was forced to make an emergency landing in Italy REUTERS“The girl kept having outbursts saying ‘get out of my face’, and she wouldn’t let her out,” Nadine said.
When the younger girl’s mother tried to intervene, the 16-year-old lost it, and the crew had to intervene and separate the group.
That’s when Nadine said things really escalated.
“She just started shouting abuse at the crew members and then she stormed to the back of the plane,” she said. “She was trying to open the door, and she broke the handle. The crew members pulled her away and restrained her.
“She was surrounded by all the crew members, but one tried to calm her down. She started screaming on the plane, and she threatened to stab a crew member,” Nadine said.
Then the girl took off running down an aisle and collided with a woman walking out of the restroom, which sent them both barreling into the cockpit’s door so hard that it flew open.
“At one point she took off her shoes and threw them at passengers. Everyone was so nervous,” Nadine recalled.
Crew members were eventually able to calm the girl down and return her to her seat, but the pilots decided they needed to land for safety reasons.
Witnesses say the 16-year-old girl tried to open the emergency doors during a tantrum mid-flight REUTERSThe flight touched down in Bari, Italy, and Nadine said the 16-year-old was led away by police, while the rest of the passengers were forced to spend the night in a dingy hotel full of mold.
“When we arrived at the hotel in Bari, we were horrified,” she said.
“Don’t get me started on the bathroom with all the mold on the floor. The door didn’t even lock. There was a baby crying next door. The next morning I saw the hotel in the light — what a dump! There were broken windows and rubbish piled up.
“I don’t think I will go on a holiday for at least a year after this as it frightened me so much,” Nadine added.
She claimed EasyJet “did not care about us on the plane” and offered no compensation for the ordeal.
The airline told the Sun that passengers were never in danger on the plane, but that the crew decided landing the flight was the safety course of action.
“The safety and wellbeing of our passengers and crew is always EasyJet’s priority.” the airline said in a statement. “While this was outside of our control, we are sorry for the inconvenience this will have caused.
“We did all we could to minimize the impact of the diversion, providing hotel accommodation and meals. We have advised customers we will reimburse any expenses incurred,” it added.
