Jet2 flights: 'Vaping' passenger on flight from Edinburgh to Tenerife in Madeira after 'stumbling down aisle' and 'threatening' staff

An “utterly wasted” and “vaping” passenger was kicked off a Jet2 flight for disruptive and “threatening” behaviour on Friday 15 March. The Jet2 flight, LS727, had taken off from Edinburgh Airport at 8.15am on Friday and was due to travel directly to Tenerife South Airport.

However, flightradar24 showed the aircraft was forced to divert to Porto Santo airport in Madeira, over 330 miles away, so the passenger could be removed by police. A video from the flight has surfaced showing a man reportedly under the influence of alcohol stumbling in the aisle of the plane while being addressed by air stewards.

The male was dressed in all black with a bag strap slung across his chest. Later on in the clip, Portuguese officials could be seen escorting him off the aircraft as travellers chanted "cheerio".

One eye-witness told Edinburgh Live that the man was “acting like a f***y” and was “vaping as soon as we took off”. Another passenger said: “'Later he was stumbling down the aisle. He looked utterly wasted.”

One more passenger on the flight commented: “What a start to our holiday! Jet2 staff handled the situation very well! Walking up and down the aisle during landing and threatening the staff…arrested on the tarmac!”

A spokesperson for Jet2 addressed the Portugal diversion and said: "Flight LS727 from Edinburgh to Tenerife diverted to Porto Santo yesterday so that police could offload a disruptive passenger. The passenger in question behaved in a disgraceful fashion, and as a family friendly airline we take a zero-tolerance approach to such behaviour. 

“Our colleagues and customers should never be subjected to this type of behaviour and we would like to thank our crew for the way they dealt with this difficult situation. We will fully support the authorities with any subsequent investigation and we will not hesitate to recover any losses incurred as a result of this divert. We are pleased to say that the flight continued to Tenerife and we wish everyone onboard a lovely holiday.”