Chaos erupted on an easyJet flight from Turkey to London Gatwick after a reportedly intoxicated passenger caused a disturbance, prompting an emergency landing in Athens. According to Metro, the topless man had been arguing with fellow travellers, leading the captain to issue a stern warning over the intercom. The captain was heard saying: “This is the captain speaking. To the people fighting, the police are waiting for you at the gate. You’re only making things worse for yourself. Please sit down.”
Despite cabin crew and passengers’ efforts to calm the situation, the disruptive man refused to comply. Passengers grew increasingly frustrated, shouting insults at the delay. A woman exclaimed, “You’ve messed us all up, you silly fool!”
It is unclear what started the fight, but the original TikTok post was captioned: “POV your flight back from Turkey gets diverted to Athens because boys can’t handle their drink.”
Later, staff attempted to dress the man and guide him off the plane, but he continued to provoke others, including a passenger in a white jacket who sarcastically applauded the captain’s announcement. As tensions escalated, the captain’s warning proved ineffective, and the man was eventually escorted off the flight by authorities.
A spokesperson for EasyJet stated, ”Flight EZY8558 from Antalya to London Gatwick on 1 October diverted to Athens and was met by police after landing due to two passengers behaving disruptively onboard. easyJet’s cabin crew are trained to assess and evaluate all situations and to act quickly and appropriately to ensure that the flight’s and other passengers’ safety is not compromised at any time. Whilst such incidents are rare, we take them very seriously and do not tolerate disruptive behaviour onboard. The safety and wellbeing of passengers and crew is always EasyJet’s highest priority.”
The footage has elicited strong reactions from internet users, who called for severe consequences, including billing the disruptive passengers thousands of dollars for the diversion and imposing lifetime bans on flying. Others suggested prohibiting alcohol on flights, citing the excessive drinking culture among some travellers.
One user wrote, ”It’s only a matter of time before they ban drinking because of people like these who can’t handle their drink. Jail them and they may think twice.” Another commented, ”Why do Brits revolve their life around drink, drink, drink? This is what ends up happening. I’m not generalizing, but this is why alcohol is not the way.”