TUI flight: Flight from Glasgow to Antalya Turkey forced to emergency land in Newcastle after passenger 'refused to hand over bottle of gin'

A TUI flight from Glasgow to Antalya, Turkey was forced to divert and make an emergency landing on Friday (24 May) due to chaos mid-air. The flight to Antalya took off at 5.15pm on but within 45 minutes the pilot was forced to make an unscheduled landing at Newcastle International Airport.

It came after a passenger, who was said to be intoxicated, allegedly assaulted a member of cabin crew. Police officers came on board the TUI TOM778 flight at Newcastle and removed him from the plane.

Footage of the incident has surfaced showing the man being dragged off the flight. A passenger told The Daily Mail: “They were seen drunk while boarding the plane. He refused to surrender his own bottle of gin and became verbally abusive.

“Two police officers boarded the plane and handcuffed him but he became unsettled so two more officers came on board. His partner was also removed from the plane to a chorus of boos as she gave everyone the middle finger.”

As a result of the delay, holidaymakers arrived at their destination more than five hours later than planned. The flight departed Newcastle for Antalya at 22:50pm.

It is understood that the airline offered each passenger a holiday voucher in compensation. A spokesperson for TUI said: “We’d like to apologise to customers on TOM778 from Glasgow to Antalya, who were required to divert to Newcastle due to a disruptive passenger on board the flight. 

“Our goal is to ensure customers have the best possible flight experience, so this is not the way we wanted their holiday to start. The safety of our customers and crew is our number one priority and any unacceptable behaviour will not be tolerated. 

“The customer involved was offloaded from the aircraft and the flight was able to continue its journey. We have offered customers a gesture of goodwill in light of this disruption to the start of their holiday and to thank them for their patience and understanding.”