easyJet flights: Flight bound for Gatwick Airport descends into chaos as teen attacks cabin crew and tries to open plane door

The easyjet flight had to divert from Gatwick to Bari in Italy after a young female passenger allegedly assaulted staff and threatened to stab them while being held down. Passengers on board claimed the out-of-control teen lost her temper at a 10-year-old girl because she was coughing loudly.

Nadine, 39, from Reading, and her daughter Jernai, 19, who were on the plane from Antalya to Gatwick on Friday night (27 December) described it as a “flight from hell” that ruined their Christmas. She told The Sun: “We went to Turkey for Christmas, where we had a really lovely holiday at a hotel called Aska Lara.

"We were all nice and relaxed, but then it turned to hell on the flight home. It’s ruined my Christmas.”

She added: “So this 16-year-old was about four rows behind me and she was sitting next to a little girl who was about 10 started coughing and she told her to stop. The little girl went to the toilet but the older girl followed her to the toilet.

"The girl kept having outbursts saying ‘get out of my face’, and she wouldn’t let her out. Then the mum went down and the teenage girl was shouting in her face. The mum and the little girl were crying so the crew walked the girl and her mum down to the to the front of the plane to get away from her."

Nadine said cabin crew asked the girl teen to go back to her seat - but she ignored them. The mum said: "She just started shouting abuse at the crew members and then she stormed to the back of the plane. She was trying to open the door and she broke the handle. The crew members pulled her away and restrained her.”

Nadine said she was angry that passengers did not get an apology after they were all ordered off the plane at Bari airport in Italy and shepherded into hotel rooms. Easyjet told The Sun: "Flight EZY8556 from Antalya to London Gatwick on 27th December diverted to Bari. It was met by police due to a passenger behaving disruptively onboard.

"EasyJet’s cabin crew are trained to assess and evaluate all situations and acted quickly and appropriately to ensure that the safety of the flight and other passengers was not compromised at any time. While such incidents are rare we take them very seriously and do not tolerate abusive or threatening behaviour onboard.

"As this led to the crew feeling unfit to operate, the flight was delayed overnight and scheduled to operate the following day. The safety and wellbeing of our passengers and crew is always easyJet's priority. While this was outside of our control, we are sorry for the inconvenience this will have caused.”

The airline added: "We did all we could to minimise the impact of the diversion, providing hotel accommodation and meals. We have advised customers we will reimburse any expenses incurred.”