Article
Jet2.com Issues Lifetime Ban to Disruptive Passenger
Published: Thu 16 Jul 2015 at 17:08
Updated: Thu 16 Jul 2015 at 17:22
- Passenger banned for life and refused flight home
- Jet2.com continues Onboard Together campaign to stamp out industry wide surge of disruptive flyers
Leading leisure airline Jet2.com is continuing its Onboard Together campaign to stamp out an industry-wide surge in offensive in-air behaviour by banning another badly behaved holidaymaker for life. In a move designed to protect both customers and crew, the airline is also pursuing legal action against the troublemaker in the Spanish courts.
The incident happened on Monday (13th July) on a flight from Glasgow to Ibiza. As the plane touched down on the holiday isle, passenger Jamie Ferguson (21), suddenly left his seat and ran aggressively towards a female member of cabin crew who was seated and strapped in, ready for landing.
Mr Ferguson, who was displaying drunk-like behaviour, leant towards the crew member, shouting into her face that he needed to use the toilet, while using foul and abusive language. The exchange was overheard by the entire plane full of passengers, including children. The incident ended when fellow crew members managed to calm Mr Ferguson down, who by this time was being restrained by his friends, and he was then arrested at the scene.
Phil Ward, managing director of Jet2.com said: “We are a leisure airline and it’s our business to ensure that the families who fly with us have a fantastic start to their holiday. No one should have to put up with behaviour like this, and as such Mr Ferguson is no longer welcome on our flights and is banned for life. We will not be flying him home, so he will have to make his own way, at his own expense.
“Our Onboard Together programme, which calls on the airline industry to work together to eradicate the growing problem of disruptive passenger behaviour, means we always take the strongest possible action against troublemakers. In this particular incident, we supported our crew members to return to Spain to begin legal proceedings and we will be continuing discuss the best way to progress this action with the Spanish authorities.
“Onboard Together aims to protect not only our customers, but also our crew who have a tremendous responsibility to ensure the smooth running of our operations at 30,000 ft.”
Jet2.com is calling for a national shared database of those passengers that have been banned for disruptive behaviour, as a way for airlines to tackle this growing problem together.
