A female passenger was removed from a TUI flight by police after she reportedly “refused to put a seatbelt on her child”.
The passenger was onboard an Airbus A320 from Kos Airport (KGS), Greece to Manchester Airport (MAN) on Wednesday, June 21, 2023, according to the Manchester Evening News (MEN).
The flight was due to leave KGS at 1:35pm local time but was delayed for a number of hours before it finally took off from the Greek Island.
As the aircraft approached Manchester, passengers were instructed to fasten their seatbelts for the landing, but one passenger allegedly refused to buckle up her child.
The flight’s captain announced that he was aborting the flight and would circle until the situation was resolved.
The flight eventually landed six hours late at 9.46pm local time and shortly after police boarded the plane to escort the disruptive passenger from the aircraft.
“Before we took off, flight attendants went to check seatbelts and the woman said her child was terrified and they refused to take off. She eventually did it and we took off. When we were up in the air, everything seemed fine and there was not a peep out of them,” a passenger told the MEN.
They added: “When we came to land, the flight had already been delayed so everyone was in a terrible mood. Then it all kicked off. They went round checking seatbelts again and she was screaming saying she was not going to restrain her child and that she was terrified.”
TUI confirmed to the MEN that the passenger was removed for not putting a seatbelt on her child.
“We can confirm that TOM2309 faced delays yesterday due to a disruptive passenger on board the flight from Kos to Manchester,” a TUI spokesperson said.
