Two men were arrested for a fight that turned bloody on a plane headed to Tenerife.
The fight started after a man criticized another man’s girlfriend for taking off her shoes on the flight. The Ryanair flight from Glasgow also involved drunkenness. Pictures taken later and posted to Twitter show bloodstains on the overhead bins of the plane’s cabin.
Happy holidays ???? pic.twitter.com/wnvilmsKCr
— Ben Wardrop (@wardrop_ben) March 16, 2019
Video posted to Twitter shows the men clawing at each other’s faces as passengers yell “Stop it!” Flight crew are on both sides of the fight, which is happening in the aisle. They manage to pull the two men apart. A child can be seen getting higher in his seat to see what is happening.
One of the fighting men seems to be saying “That’s my girl! That’s my girl!”
The passenger who filmed the altercation explained how it started.
“It all started over a woman not wearing her shoes on the flight going to the toilet, and a very drunk man pulled her up about it, saying that someone would stand on her toes, then the woman’s boyfriend stepped in and tried to defuse the situation,” said Ben Wardrop, via Sky News.
Wardrop explained how the altercation developed.
“Once the plane landed and more alcohol was consumed the man and the woman’s boyfriend started arguing, both being very drunk they started to fight, and the man in the video with lots of blood was trying to get the man to calm down and he got hit on the nose,” said Wadrop.
Wardrop explained what the fight was like for others on the plane, via Ladbible. “There was a family with a young boy sitting in front of us that witnessed all of the action. It was a very scary moment as it was very confined and lots of innocent people got involved due to the small space on the plane.”
Wardrop praised Ryanair staff.
“One of the cabin crew, which was a young woman aged about 24, was caught in the middle of it all and was very scared, but done a good job on defusing the men fighting,” he explained. “Ryanair’s staff handled the situation very well.”
Police were waiting to arrest the fighting men as the plane landed.
A Ryanair spokeswoman issued a comment on the fight, obtained by Sky News.
“The crew of this flight from Glasgow Prestwick to Tenerife requested police assistance upon arrival after two passengers became disruptive in-flight.
“The aircraft landed normally and police removed and detained two individuals.
“We will not tolerate unruly or disruptive behaviour at any time and the safety and comfort of our customers, crew, and aircraft is our number one priority.
“This is now a matter for local police.”
The same plane and same crew made the return flight to Glasgow. The plane was an hour late taking off for the flight back, and the crew was still shaken up.
“We were sitting at the front of the plane and were talking to the chief steward,” said a passenger on the return flight, via the Daily Record. “His shirt was covered in blood and he was shaking like a leaf. He was trying to welcome us aboard and apologize at the same time.”
“He was so shaken up that he could hardly get the words out. As we boarded the police were taking statements off the stewards,” the passenger added.
Was still blood in the cabin when we got on for the flight home pic.twitter.com/mUpeKoY20Y
— Stephen Griffiths (@sgriff1990) March 16, 2019
The dramatic incident continued to affect the crew.
“Before taking off they told us over the tannoy that there had been ‘an unsavory incident’ when they were touching down,” the same passenger said. “He could hardly get the words out, it was terrible. He told us there had been a lot of upset children, and women screaming.”
According to the Centre for Aviation, Ryanair is Europe’s largest airline. Its largest hub is at London Stansted Airport, and its second largest is at Dublin Airport.
Ryanair flies to airports in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, Morocco, and Israel, according to Reuters.
